“Freedom Baird’s installation Floreal provides a calm transition into the museum. Our eyes and minds adjust from the busy streets outside to the quiet galleries inside. Part distraction, part subversion, the artwork creates an escapist miniature topography on the surface of the welcome desk. The desk holds various knickknacks and toys. By encouraging visitors to play with the toys, this installation rewrites the rules of museum engagement. Opposite the desk, we see planters filled with various greenery. Apparent only to the most perceptive viewers, the intermingling of real foliage with plastic vines reminds us to look consciously at the world around us.
Whether her materials are natural or human made, biodegradable or permanent, the artist wants us to reflect on where they originate and their lifespans. Central to Baird’s work is an inquiry into how culture is expressed by communities. By drawing our attention to our surroundings, Floreal brings the importance of place—whether a garden or a museum lobby—into the foreground. We take part in this consideration as we make the museum our personal oasis.”
Floreal, 2023, MAAM reception desk compartment close-up.Floreal in progress in the MAAM lobby. Tinted moss, lichen, hay, sand, and beads I applied to the desk.Floreal desk surface close-up.Floreal desk, detail.
The Floreal desk in production —
Scale model I made of the desk to prep for construction. 1 inch : 1 footFull-scale desk made of surplus oak flooring that Paul Swenbeck and I built in the MAAM shop.I cut out board and rigid foam insulation to build out the curved form at the end of the desk.I glued up the board and foam, adding small steel ties for stability.I leveled and anchored the Floreal desk surface layer.I glued up and added spray foam to build out the top part of the form.I carved the foam with a chainsaw, and built ramps of bendable plywood for the desk end and ceiling.Wearing the necessary protection gear for carving plastic.I angle-ground and sanded the form smooth and added in more spray foam.Ready for the final round of sanding.I carved wells into the foam form with an angle grinder.The Floreal desk ready for the plaster layer.I coated the Floreal desk surface with layers of plaster-impregnated cotton strips.Finishing up the plaster layer on the Floreal desk in the MAAM lobby.
The Floreal real & fake planters in progress with MAAM staff and students
Floreal, real & fake plants planting party, summer 2023, in the MAAM Education SpaceFloreal, 2023, real & fake plants in the MAAM lobby wall installation. Planter brackets fabricated to my spec by Dylan Reid. Plants maintained during the installation’s run by Natalie Elodie Hornedo.
The Floreal ramps in progress
Emily Elliot and Michelle Stevens applying materials to the Floreal ramps. I based the ramp foliage designs on a USGS topo map of Amherst, MAClose-up of Michelle Stevens applying lichens and mosses to a Floreal ramp surface.Michelle Stevens applying lichens and mosses to a Floreal ramp surface using a topo map as a reference.Floreal ceiling ramp, MAAM lobby.Floreal desk ramp, MAAM lobby.Floreal desk in use by a MassArt student docent at MAAM, October 2023.
