Art@Bartram’s

About Art@Bartram’s

Art@Bartram’s, a multi-year initiative begun in 2015, focuses on the development and production of public art projects in and around Bartram’s Garden, Bartram’s Mile, and the surrounding neighborhood. The project celebrates the Schuylkill River by connecting the public to the river, enhancing the public’s awareness, understanding, and experience of the river and its surrounding landscape, raising awareness of water-related environmental concerns, and promoting environmental stewardship.

In spring 2016, artist Stacy Levy was awarded the inaugural Art@Bartram’s commission, and has installed two temporary site-specific works of public art for summer 2018, continuing through fall 2018. Two installations along the Schuylkill River—Tide Field and River Rooms—celebrate the connection between Bartram’s Garden and the Schuylkill River, and invite visitors to develop a closer relationship with the river.

Levy’s Tide Field, a series of current-driven buoys, draws attention to the river’s tidal nature through “ever-changing visualization.” As the tide rises and falls twice daily, the buoys are concealed and revealed, animating a familiar waterscape in a new way.

River Rooms, six wooden boat-like structures, provides destinations for observation, reflection, and interactive programming. Visitors can fish, observe a variety of Tide Field locations, or simply sit and converse. On each wooden deck, a stone inscription offers facts about the river and the tides, bringing the ecosystem full circle.