Ohr Museum & Hands On Create Public Art

First Installation at Rudy Moran Park in D’Iberville

On the warm morning of Friday, May 30 Ingrid Hill, and her small crew of Hands On and AmeriCorps volunteers put the finishing touches on small concrete stools then placed them next to a long table made of hand-painted tiles at Rudy Moran Park in D’Iberville. They stood back and looked at the finished structure, a few criticisms going back and forth, but overall a sense of pride and accomplishment expressed.

The group was examining the first of several public art installations that will be constructed in parks and other public spaces all along the Gulf Coast. D’Iberville was the location of the first construction. The idea resulted from collaboration between the Ohr-Okeefe Museum of Art, Hands-On and Singing for Change, a charitable organization that funds public art. The Ohr O’Keefe Museum was awarded a grant from Singing for Change and decided to use the funds for a coast-wide, public art, beautification project. Hill was charged with making it happen. She’s been traveling around the coast, guiding students in schools from the three coastal counties in hand painting tiles. Hill said she enjoys the work because she’s bringing art to some students who haven’t been exposed to it before. She tries to guide the students into putting something about themselves into the images on the tiles.

Hill’s been working with area Public Works and Parks Directors to decide on the best places for the structures. They will be placed in areas that are open to roads and can be seen easily and each location will have a different design, best suited to that park’s specific needs.

Hill has also collaborated with Jessie Zenor, an intern architect working with the Gulf Coast Design Studio in East Biloxi, on designing the roofs and small pavilions so that they will look good but also be Hurricane-proof. The tiles are taken back to the Ohr-OKeefe Museum, fired and glazed and then placed by volunteers onto the structures. One school’s tiles will travel to a completely different area for placement. Ingrid said the idea is that the kids and their families will travel to other towns to visit the place where their tiles are.

At the Rudy Moran site in D’Iberville tiles painted by elementary students in Orange Grove decorate the shaded table. A diversity of images can be seen, from traditional, coastal scenes with boats, fish and pelicans to weird creatures and strange expressions. As Ingrid and her crew look over the finished product, they remark on a few minor mistakes made but seem content that they’ve created something fun and unique. They will take their lessons and move on to the next site until at least six such structures are complete.