Artist's Statement
It’s an honor and
an obligation to contribute to my urban
environment through my sculpture
and environmentally conscious gardening
activities. For
much more than a decade now I have
been creating and installing
significant artworks for the community throughout the Bay Area.
The community garden that I founded and
coordinate in my home City of Emeryville,
“Big Daddy’s Complete Rejuvenating
Community Garden,” is aptly named as an inspirational
force for an urban
resurgence.
Communities seek a sense of their own identity, rooted in time
and space. My work often keys
on this
need, dynamically uniting the sense of the place with its regional
role, a
metaphor that
fuses the vision of past history with our vision of where we’re
going. I’m extremely proud of the
seven
narrative historic themes I designed for the over 600 feet of fence
panels at
the Richmond
Transit Village near the Richmond BART station. This
vibrant cultural ribbon has been a real
contribution
to community revitalization.
— Vickie Jo Sowell
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"Richmond Works"
 Please note the strong shadow and light effects of my "Richmond Works", for the City of Richmond's Transit Village, which provides more than 600 feet of fencing panels. This vibrant cultural ribbon has made a tangible contribution to the community revitalization of this Bay Area city. The 7 original designs I created do double and triple duty as structure and content, with cutout shapes visible from both sides and in a variety of colors and sequences
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"Niles Panorama"
10 strong designs featuring both the firefighters and numerous other facets of local lore. The Niles connection is emphasized within a 35mm film motif, representative of the presence of the early silent film industry within the community. |
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"Big Daddy's Complete Rejuvenating
Community Garden"
My garden sign celebrates the history of our
garden, which formerly was the site of an
auto-detailing shop run by our neighbor,
"Big Daddy" Green. The garden has been in
place for a decade now, providing raised bed
plots to gardeners in Oakland and Emeryville,
and is a site for many ongoing e |
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"Heliotrope"
A spiraling assortment of shapes that track the sun from the roof of a hexagonal shade structure at Stockton's Matt Equinoa park. "Heliotrope" was inspired by plants that attract beneficial insects to gardens, reflecting my experiences and organic approach as a Master Gardener. |
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