The Children’s Nest Egg (In the Park) in St.Louis Park, Minnesota is interactive environmental art, nestled in the Westwood Hills Nature Center, and engages community members through sculptural spatial experience, participation in construction milestone events and process blog, and by honoring their experiences with nature that they wish to leave to the next generation by including their observations and poetry into the artwork. The “nest wall” itself was constructed with community volunteers using a giant wooden needle, rope, and basketry methods, and is rewoven every two years by community service groups as the branches settle and decompose into the soil. Funding for this project was by the Arts & Culture Grant Program, a collaborative program between the City of St. Louis Park, the Friends of the Arts, and the St. Louis Park Community Foundation. The project is led by Artist/Designer, Jonee Kulman Brigham of Full Spring Studio, LLC, with portions fabricated by Jeffrey Swainhart of Swainhart Construction Services, LLC.
Medium: engraved and stained cedar boards, cedar deck structure, tree trimming waste branches, manila rope, aluminum sheet metal, engraved chrome plated brass plates, painted concrete sphere
Dimensions: Nest platform: 12 ft. diameter x 6 ft. high at peak. Overall length including poetry-lined pathway 40 ft.
Date installed: 2008
Site: Westwood Hills Nature Center, St. Louis Park, MN
Collaborators: Wood structure fabrication by Swainhart Construction Services, LLC; poetry in bench contributed by community members
Website: http://childrensnestegg.blogspot.com