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Installation Project

By Brenda Brokke and Leatha Koefler

To celebrate the 8th annual Sparkcon festival, we built an 8 foot nest. The nest was constructed to demonstrate humanitys link with nature. The installation is a reflection on our dwellings and interior spaces. It mimics the way people enhance and personalize the spaces they inhabit as they create their own “nest” for themselves and their families.

The nest was constructed of material from nature that man uses to build his nests or dwellings within North Carolina. The materials are stone, concrete, wood, sand, soil, mulch, hay, pine cones, and of course acorns, the symbol of Raleigh. The building materials were used to create visually interesting patterns and details, which is what is also done in the décor of our homes.

Around the nest we constructed branch chandeliers and printed natural paper that forms tree like towers. They become reminiscent of wallpaper and other printed designs that are found in our homes on walls and textiles that make up our nests.

“The Nest” is yet another way of stating that we are a part of nature and that nature and man are intricately entwined.

The project was very interactive. Scores of visitors sat in the Nest and then "twitted" their photos of themselves and their families. Others sang like birds and a few even flapped.

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