What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1364938
J ill Dabbs is the executive director of the Downtown Springdale Alliance. It's a nonprofit that was contracted by the city to help foster a dynamic and thriving downtown. Discussing some of the new art projects emerging across Northwest Arkansas, Dabbs' thesis may be the perfect summation to describe the resulting community enrichment — not just in Springdale, but across the region. "Art speaks to people and says, 'This place is loved. We want you to be here; we've done something for you to enjoy. So enjoy it,'" she posits. "I think it warms the place up, and you can feel the heart and soul of a place through the art that is installed in different spaces, like we're doing in downtown Springdale." This story is the first in a series that will highlight artists and the new murals, sculptures — installations of any medium — of public art they are bringing to Northwest Arkansas. Up first: Craig Colorusso's sound installation in the tunnel at Maple Grove Park near downtown Rogers. Craig Colorusso As a musician and interdisciplinary artist whose work often explores the intersection of sound, light and space, Rogers' Craig Colorusso has a vision: to fill the Razorback Regional Greenway with as much sound and light as possible. The 36-mile shared-use trail extends from north Bentonville to south Fayetteville, linking each of the communities in between, and is a canvas full of opportunities to integrate light and sound, Colorusso says. His most recent project can be found in the tunnel at Maple Grove Park in Rogers — an underpass that continues the trail on either side of South Mount Ne Road. Three sound boxes, powered by a solar panel outside the tunnel, are inconspicuously and evenly spaced along its ceiling, filling the space with ethereal music from one hour before sunrise until one hour after sunset each day. The 19-hour "sound mural" comprises three original compositions of different lengths repeating on a loop, always lining up differently and creating a constant flow of music. Filling the tunnel with sound that then reverberates almost continuously within the space offers visitors the chance to step into the sound — to be a part of it. "I started as a musician. I started playing guitar when I was 14; I liked Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. And then I had the opportunity to go on tour with some bands, and I loved it," Colorusso recalls of his artistic beginnings. "I like being on stage. But I think quickly, my mind started to wander. Like, 'This is what we're doing, but we could be doing so much more.'" Most of the venues where he would perform also weren't designed for sound, Colorusso continues. He played in bars, in places where there was a barrier — sometimes physical, sometimes metaphorical — between the audience and the music. They weren't situations, he says, suited to long-term artistry — something that could "unfold over time," like the music in the tunnel. When he began exploring sound and light installations, it was a solar- powered piece, "Sun Boxes," that got Colorusso outside. "I feel like once that happened, I have no desire to go back inside," he says. Gesturing to the nature around him, he adds, "this is like the biggest room ever, and it's beautiful." Colorusso's tunnel is an evolution of a project that began at Coler Mountain Bike preserve. At "Covered Bridge ONE," the speakers are under a bridge that spans a rippling stream, mingling Colorusso's meditative soundtrack with the sounds of the water. The idea, he says, is that going to or experiencing one installation is one thing. But seeing the second installation, the two together become something else. That's Feature 8 What's up! april 25-May 1, 2021 Art, Art Everywhere JOCELYN MURPHY NWA Democrat-Gazette Murals convey sense of community across Northwest arkansas rogers artist Craig Colorusso talks about his "sound mural" inside the tunnel where bike riders and pedestrians can hear his original composition. the tunnel is at Maple Grove park, two blocks south of downtown rogers. "there's a lot of talk about walls and such, and i think we need more tunnels than walls," Colorusso muses. "there's just something about moving through the sound that i think is very appealing. the idea that you can walk through and be part of it." (NWa Democrat-Gazette/Flip putthoff)