Radiant Bloom
in collaboration with Heather Baumbach & Karim Badwan
“Audrey Hepburn, actress and humanitarian, famously said — to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.
The seeds of this light installation were planted the sameway theater is made, collaboratively. Working with FPCTA CEO Karen Mockensturm, Karim Badwan and Heather Baumbach spent time hearing about the many programs and people that have grown as a part of Fantasy Playhouse Children’s Theater & Academy (FPCTA). This includes volunteers, staff, students, teachers, casts, and crews of each production, and of course — the audiences. Understanding that at its core, FPCTA is an organization that plants, tends, and cultivates creativity led to the final form of the sculpture. Each individual flower was created out of cotton crinoline and hand dyed to many colors present in skin. The stems of the flowers are antique spindles that were in the building when it was purchased. The flowers as a whole represent the thousands of children who have come through FPCTA and the hundreds of children who made up Merrimack Mills’ original workforce. The wood frame is reminiscent of a garden fence, and its colors are abstracted purple and orange, representing FPCTA’s logo colors. We into the work to be a tribute to the hope, patience, and growth that FPCTA continues to inspire in its community.
About Heather Baumbach
Heather’s work is inspired by her relationship with the physical body. She is devoted to working with her hands, creating works notable for their deft finish and tactile nature. Her visual art has been exhibited at Mass MoCA, The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, The Wiregrass Museum of Art, The Gadsden Museum of Art, The Georgine Clark Alabama Artists Gallery, The Charles W. and Norma C. Carroll Gallery at Marshall University, Ground Floor Contemporary and Revolve Gallery, Asheville, NC. She also holds over 30 years of design and production experience in stage, television, and film, her credits including The Cherry Lane Theatre, The Theater Outlet, The Santa Fe Opera, The Los Angeles Opera, Maine State Music Theatre, Center Theatre Group, Carsey-Warner Productions and Comedy Central. Heather holds a BFA in Costume Design from UNCSA and an MFA in Visual Art from Lesley University, in addition to her studio practice, she is currently an Adjunct Instructor at The University of Alabama Huntsville.