Bal Swan Center
Local artists install interactive piece to entertain and enrich
Artists John King and Olsen Barrett drilled into the cinderblock wall at Bal Swan Children’s Center, piece by piece installing a custom art piece on July 15.
A beige wall in the lobby transformed into a vibrant, kid-friendly interactive art piece last week. A large yellow sun rests above three waves with varying circles, or bubbles, sprinkled across the piece. Each circle is mounted to spin freely one way or the other, and passersby can’t help but spin a few. For King, that’s the point.
“First of all we’re standing in a preschool and this has a decorate purpose, livening this central area of the preschool,” King said July 15. “Way beyond that, it’s called interactive art, which means the artwork is realized by you touching it. It’s there in some kind of relationship with you.”
Bal Swan Executive Director Debbie Kunz said the project has been more than a year in the making because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I would see a couple pieces of his artwork, one in Broomfield Health and Human Services and one in the lobby at Mental Health Partners,” Kunz said of how she found King. “Like how Bal Swan serves the whole child, art envelops that whole childness. It seemed appropriate for us to celebrate the kind of place we are with art. I just contacted John and we talked on the phone, it’s been a while.”
The two collaborated on a design from there. The idea started as a tree, but Kunz said the waves design is much more fitting.
“We’re the school that focuses on the neurodiverse population and celebrating the strengths of all people. So we wanted a piece that inspired and speaks to the mind, the heart and the soul, and all of the sudden you’re calm,” Kunz said. “You sit here, you do this then all the sudden you’re breathing. If we have a child having a tough moment in the classroom, the goal is that they’ll be able to come out here and interact with this piece and go back calm and ready to go back to the community.”
King and Barrett created the piece out of plywood topped with aluminum cardboard, which they polished and painted with
“(The piece is) something that is tranquil, deepening, grounding and a centering experience so these kids, when they pass through here, could pause and reflect on something and have a personal experience that actually aids them.”
John King, Local artist
var ying transparent colors. When the art pieces are still, they catch the light and different designs can be seen that Barrett polished in. When the pieces begin to spin, they become 3D, revealing depth and layers of colors and designs — something King knew would instantly draw children in.
Multiple students continued to poke their heads out of their classroom last week to see whether the installation was complete.
“We’re so excited!” one student exclaimed, eager for the completion.
“That’s the art for me. It’s easy to make things move, it’s easy to create interaction. How do you create an interaction that’s a gift, that’s good for the participant, that’s good for the facility?” King explained, adding the piece is designed to be “something that is tranquil, deepening, grounding and a centering experience so these kids, when they pass through here, could pause and reflect on something and have a personal experience that actually aids them.”
Kunz said the way the piece came together from the design phase to the install is serendipitous.
“This was our dream and they made it happen,” she said.
The art was commissioned through a donation from Broomfield 100 Women Who Care, an organization that filters donations to a chosen area nonprofit. Members of the public are invited to interact with the art in the lobby of Bal Swan, located at 1145 East 13th Ave. More of King’s work can be found at johnkingarts.com.