TheBurg

05.17 | theburg | 57 Part of Curanzy's artistic contribution was his accidental collaboration with fellow Wildwood artists Eve Gurbacki and Annie Zimmerman. He gave them disks from his farm and helped with their installation. "It cost me nothing to help them, and I knew I would be part of something bigger—positive exposure for the park," he said. "Good interactions lead to positive things." Gurbacki has professionally collaborated with Zimmerman for more than a decade. "Annie and I are classically trained in fine art, making [Curanzy's] creative process different from ours," she said. Despite different approaches, Curanzy inspired them to expand their art space on both sides of the path to make it more three-dimensional, she said. When I met these two artists at the Nature Center at Wildwood, they had everything ready to go: their slide presentation, sketches, material samples and a ride to the exact site. Something about their organized partnership—the click between them— was palpable. "When we research and write our proposal, we think about what theme we want to convey," Gurbacki said. "A lot of people come to Wildwood Park to look at birds." I spied her bird necklace. Both this year and last year, birds have played a role in their art. eir 2016 exhibit featured birds on wood discs with blue dye. ey resembled geodes, or crystalline formations, hanging from the trees. ey made their cyanotypes—bluish images—using a process involving mixed chemicals, cold water and sunlight. e pair's 2017 exhibit, "When Trees Dream," features more cyanotypes—white birds against blue sky in different stages of flight. "It will be a canopy over the path," Zimmerman said. ey create together mostly virtually, sharing ideas and solving problems. ey play with materials to decide the best way to install their pieces and how to maintain them. Elements of their professional art training surface in their plans: sketches, photographs, dyes and bright pops of color. I followed them to their exhibit site. In selecting the site, they had to consider "how to incorporate our work in visual harmony and compositionally within the natural space," Gurbacki said. "en we consider the practical things, like material durability, season changes, foliage coverage during each season, sun bleaching, weather damage." Zimmerman added that they think through motion and the movement of the pieces. "How the wind will swivel and sway them, and how we can transition natural objects," she said. eir methodical approach to creating art has turned them into engineers by necessity. At the same time, the space flows and speaks to them while they use trial and error. I watched their recycled bedsheets unfurl across the width of the path, clouds and birds outlined in denim blue. I imagined them hoisting the sheets using pulleys, components weaving through the trees, people transitioning underneath the azure canopies to absorb the art. "Art in the Wild " runs through October at Wildwood Park, 100 Wildwood Way, Harrisburg. e park is open every day from dawn until dusk. For more information, visit www.wildwoodlake.org. Beau MacGinnes, Windows of Perception Eve Gurbacki & Adrianne Zimmerman,When Trees Dream Sean Rafferty and Katlyn Goodyear with Equus Caballus Ray Curanzy, Merry Woodsman

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