By Rachel Hayes
Construction mesh and nylon flag fabric, 2018
Hayes’ colorful compositions punctuated the landscape of the Karl Stirner Arts Trail for more than 1.5 miles from August 2018 through November 2019. The pieces were placed to highlight interesting points on the trail and keep the eyes searching. The individual components, which Hayes calls “flutters,” were in various lengths and translucent colors to create compositions and patterns throughout the trail.
After the site-specific artwork’s removal, the fabric was recycled into bags for residents of Easton homeless shelters. The objectives of the fabric sculpture were to bring attention to the trail as a park welcoming all people as well as to attend to those in need through the reuse of the art project materials.
Hayes visited the trail in April 2018 upon the suggestion of Karen Bravin, a member of the KSAT Art Advisory Council.
Ron Morris and Ken Jones of Mercantile Home on Northampton Street in Easton introduced Hayes to artists and artisans eager to help realize this project.
Hayes was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and lives and works in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Often using fabric to create large-scale work, she is interested in inserting color and form into both built and natural environments. Her installation Someday When We Are Dreaming is up in the atrium at the Nevada Museum of Art through 2025. Her work has been covered by The New Yorker, The New York Times, Architectural Digest, Vogue, The Cut, LA Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Harper’s Bazaar, and Artforum, among others.