Haley Himiko Hudson Morris—Po-mo Free Station Sculptures
From the artist: The Po-mo Free Station Sculptures are inspired by the Little Free Libraries or Free Pantries located in public spaces and on frontages of privately owned properties for community use and enjoyment. The template of the “free library” is easy to reinterpret as any variety of sculpture as long as the inside can be accessed and protected from the elements. Usually they are built in the manner of a cabinet with glass doors. “Po-mo” stands for Post Modern and captures the spirit of reinterpretation and whimsy. My plan is to design a variety of sculptures that can be reproduced and created in a kit along with one of a kind pieces. I see a Free station that looks like a giant sitting fiberglass Elephant, a colorful pyramid on top of 4 legs, An Igloo made from glass block with a dome top, a miniature gazebo, a British telephone booth, A giant disco ball, an arbor, the possibilities are infinite with skill and imagination to retrofit many salvageable items. My work as an installation artist and event designer informs much of my work with an agenda of being interactive. I also see the Free Stations being brightly colored and built with a variety of different types of materials not ordinarily used in Free Libraries including PVC, glass block, tubing, culvert pipe, plastic molds, other industrial/architectural salvage and up-cycled materials. Sculptures as a form of public art are a wonderful marriage with the Free Station concept as a sort of “giving tree”. They can contribute to way-finding and more loosely imagine what we can share with each other or find in a free box: a clean shirt, a birthday gift, a set of paints or crayons, a journal, a snack, music, movies, school supplies, a special treasure and so much more.