It’s not a coronavirus. Hanging from a tree, it’s the Dream Pod
It floats from a tree on North Street, a bulbous green creature with horn-shaped protrusions flowering with pink balls.
It looks somewhat like a COVID-19 virus. That wasn’t Philip Marshall’s original intent when he sculpted it in 2015 — he was thinking more of exotic plants — but it was very much on his mind when he brought it out and hung it in his front yard.
It’s titled “Dream Pod.”
“I thought I’d put it out, give people a smile,” Marshall said. “I see a lot of people walking by — that’s one of the things we can do these days — and it always brings a reaction.”
The Dream Pod may look delicate, but it was built to handle an outdoor environment. Marshall sculpted it out of steel and aluminum mesh as part of a sculpture series. The pink blooms started life as racquet balls.
“Things that grow in other parts of the world look totally bizarre to us,” said Marshall, who spent time in the far East, Southeast Asia, Japan and in rainforests.
Dream Pod has made previous appearances at Worcester’s Art in the Park, at Art in the Orchard in Easthampton, and at Fruitlands in Harvard.
Hanging from a tree is, in fact, what it was designed to do. But this is the first time Marshall has decided to have a one-man show in, well, his front yard.
April 25 is International Sculpture Day. What better time to install a giant green pod that looks somewhat like a coronavirus?
“When I was installing it in the orchard at Easthampton, I said to the farmer ‘this reminds me of the HIV virus’ and he said ‘WHAT?’” Marshall recalled. “These days, it’s coronavirus.”
Marshall grew up in England and moved to Grafton 40 years ago. While he started out as a painter, when he came to the point in his life when he could afford to work as a full-time artist, he decided to explore outdoor sculpture.
He likes to think of public art as “gateway art”, as it makes art accessible to many who might not have ever considered going to a museum or gallery before.
The Dream Pod may be coming down soon, but more of Marshall’s artwork can be found at http://philmarshallstudio.com/
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