The Key Idea™
a community art project
The question was asked:
What would your key open or start or do?
a community art project
The question was asked:
What would your key open or start or do?
By Eir Lindström-Holmy
Contributing Writer
We carry them with us every day. They represent trust; they represent secrets. Significantly, they hold the power to open doors, be they physical, metaphysical or metaphorical: the possibility of liberation. And for some, they provide an endless source of fascination.
“It’s a challenge to absorb it all,” muses Lenore Lyons, artist and art educator, as she ponders the scope and scale of her ever-growing brainchild.
Consisting of more than 2,000 individual artworks, “The Key Idea” is a community art project a year in the making. The project, which was at Cotuit Center for the Arts earlier this month and now has pieces at Barnstable Town Hall, is part of the larger exhibition “Keys: Connecting,” which features key-themed displays and related contributions in sculpture, video and painting.
A smaller satellite exhibition, featuring approximately 300 selected works from “The Key Idea,” can be seen through Dec. 31 at the Town Hall Hearing Room in Hyannis.
For Lyons, the project is an attempt to reveal what is important to us as a community. The core of the exhibition consists of 5½-inch square works on paper, created by members of the Cape Cod community ranging in age from 1 to 100. Participants were asked to draw a picture of a key, using words and images to express what their key might open, start or do. Lyons gave them ink-splattered paper to work on because “people are afraid of white paper.”
According to Lyons, the act of mounting the exhibition transformed the project from a collection of images into a coherent and revealing portrait of the hopes and dreams of a community.
“There were so many things I didn’t realize before hanging the show,” she explains, “you begin to see how art and writing develop over a lifetime.”
With images displayed in small groups, in age order, the journey through various life-stages provides a natural arc for the viewer, emerging as a secondary theme of the exhibition. A video by Dutch filmmaker Jeroen Wolf helps to put it all into context – in his two-minute video, childhood lasts barely 20 seconds.
Lyons believes some people will be naturally drawn to the work of adults (“They’re funny, they’re deep”) while others will really enjoy the work of young children (“They have no filter, they’ll say anything.”) According to Lyons, at age 4 to 5, kids are very literal, and a key almost always opens a door. At 6, the artist sees the beginnings of imagination, and the 9-year olds were full of surprises: “they were deep and knew enough about the world.”
To Lyons’ surprise, she found that while young children write about gold and treasure, adults rarely write about money, even those coming from the poorest communities: “When you only have one thing to write about, for adults, it’s not money.” The exhibition reveals a range of interests and values, but according to Lyons, certain themes come through as dominant, - especially love.
“They write about things that matter” she says.
While most of the works are uplifting - the key to a little red Corvette one woman plans to buy for her 71st birthday – others are unsettling - one participant in her 80s writes touchingly about losing the key to her car, her license to drive and her independence, all too soon. A 12-year old child talks about the key to safety and keeping out the “scary outside world.” Overall, Lyons points out, “only a handful of people locked things up.”
Making the show as inclusive as possible was important to its creator, given her background in community outreach. Works were solicited in numerous community festivals, including Arts Alive and Spring on Main. Being Cape Cod, this sampling included visitors from all over the world. And alongside the occasional established artist are “those who don’t normally create art: I think everyone can be an artist.”
Lyons cites Cape Cod and Islands Art Educators as “really instrumental in reaching lots of children.” Every district from Provincetown to Bourne had at least one school participating, and students at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School took a unique approach and worked in groups to create the large mixed-media sculptures included in the show.
The artist went to lengths to include those who “need to have their voices heard,” approaching organizations that work with disenfranchised populations, including NOAH, Bridge to Hope and the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corp. The primary criteria for selection was legibility, with 2,000 of 2,500 submitted works on show.
Also included in “Keys: Connecting” are three related project by Lyons: “The Art Journal Project,” the interactive “Keystone Project” and a set of square encaustic works using paint made with melted beeswax and resin, and inspired by the “The Key Idea.” Visitors are invited to contribute their own work to “The Key Idea,” so you might just find yourself becoming a part of project in future incarnations.
As for the future? “People keep asking, where is it going next?” At present, Lyons is considering compiling 300 or so pieces into a book, as well as expanding to other states and possibly other countries. She even mentions The Smithsonian as a possible venue.
“Is this the end?”
She considers. “I think this is just the launching.”
Contributing Writer
We carry them with us every day. They represent trust; they represent secrets. Significantly, they hold the power to open doors, be they physical, metaphysical or metaphorical: the possibility of liberation. And for some, they provide an endless source of fascination.
“It’s a challenge to absorb it all,” muses Lenore Lyons, artist and art educator, as she ponders the scope and scale of her ever-growing brainchild.
Consisting of more than 2,000 individual artworks, “The Key Idea” is a community art project a year in the making. The project, which was at Cotuit Center for the Arts earlier this month and now has pieces at Barnstable Town Hall, is part of the larger exhibition “Keys: Connecting,” which features key-themed displays and related contributions in sculpture, video and painting.
A smaller satellite exhibition, featuring approximately 300 selected works from “The Key Idea,” can be seen through Dec. 31 at the Town Hall Hearing Room in Hyannis.
For Lyons, the project is an attempt to reveal what is important to us as a community. The core of the exhibition consists of 5½-inch square works on paper, created by members of the Cape Cod community ranging in age from 1 to 100. Participants were asked to draw a picture of a key, using words and images to express what their key might open, start or do. Lyons gave them ink-splattered paper to work on because “people are afraid of white paper.”
According to Lyons, the act of mounting the exhibition transformed the project from a collection of images into a coherent and revealing portrait of the hopes and dreams of a community.
“There were so many things I didn’t realize before hanging the show,” she explains, “you begin to see how art and writing develop over a lifetime.”
With images displayed in small groups, in age order, the journey through various life-stages provides a natural arc for the viewer, emerging as a secondary theme of the exhibition. A video by Dutch filmmaker Jeroen Wolf helps to put it all into context – in his two-minute video, childhood lasts barely 20 seconds.
Lyons believes some people will be naturally drawn to the work of adults (“They’re funny, they’re deep”) while others will really enjoy the work of young children (“They have no filter, they’ll say anything.”) According to Lyons, at age 4 to 5, kids are very literal, and a key almost always opens a door. At 6, the artist sees the beginnings of imagination, and the 9-year olds were full of surprises: “they were deep and knew enough about the world.”
To Lyons’ surprise, she found that while young children write about gold and treasure, adults rarely write about money, even those coming from the poorest communities: “When you only have one thing to write about, for adults, it’s not money.” The exhibition reveals a range of interests and values, but according to Lyons, certain themes come through as dominant, - especially love.
“They write about things that matter” she says.
While most of the works are uplifting - the key to a little red Corvette one woman plans to buy for her 71st birthday – others are unsettling - one participant in her 80s writes touchingly about losing the key to her car, her license to drive and her independence, all too soon. A 12-year old child talks about the key to safety and keeping out the “scary outside world.” Overall, Lyons points out, “only a handful of people locked things up.”
Making the show as inclusive as possible was important to its creator, given her background in community outreach. Works were solicited in numerous community festivals, including Arts Alive and Spring on Main. Being Cape Cod, this sampling included visitors from all over the world. And alongside the occasional established artist are “those who don’t normally create art: I think everyone can be an artist.”
Lyons cites Cape Cod and Islands Art Educators as “really instrumental in reaching lots of children.” Every district from Provincetown to Bourne had at least one school participating, and students at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School took a unique approach and worked in groups to create the large mixed-media sculptures included in the show.
The artist went to lengths to include those who “need to have their voices heard,” approaching organizations that work with disenfranchised populations, including NOAH, Bridge to Hope and the Robert F. Kennedy Children’s Action Corp. The primary criteria for selection was legibility, with 2,000 of 2,500 submitted works on show.
Also included in “Keys: Connecting” are three related project by Lyons: “The Art Journal Project,” the interactive “Keystone Project” and a set of square encaustic works using paint made with melted beeswax and resin, and inspired by the “The Key Idea.” Visitors are invited to contribute their own work to “The Key Idea,” so you might just find yourself becoming a part of project in future incarnations.
As for the future? “People keep asking, where is it going next?” At present, Lyons is considering compiling 300 or so pieces into a book, as well as expanding to other states and possibly other countries. She even mentions The Smithsonian as a possible venue.
“Is this the end?”
She considers. “I think this is just the launching.”
- What: "The Key Idea," a community art project- the spotlight exhibit
- Where: Barnstable Town Hall South Street Hyannis second floor
- When: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, through Dec. 30
Keys are objects that recall vivid memories
and inspire powerful concepts.
and inspire powerful concepts.
Thank you to our generous sponsors.