The Blue LoopRobert Park (1946)
Extant
6303 Park Lake Road, Bath, Michigan, 48808, United States
2016 to present
To arrange a visit to the site, call Robert Park at (517) 604-8900.
About the Artist/Site
Since around 2016, Robert Park has “upcycled” thousands of blue objects to form The Blue Loop–a winding 1,000 foot art installation in the woods behind his home in Bath, Michigan. Park has been an artist since childhood and earned a BFA from Michigan State University in 1969. In addition to creating his art environment, he maintains a studio practice, and his mixed media and found object assemblage work was displayed in an exhibition called Quantum Entanglement at MSU in 2017.
The Loop consists of blue found objects manipulated to form oftentimes humorous tableaus captioned with tongue-in-cheek labels by Park. One sign post features the “blue map rule” which is simply “follow the blue.” More signage labels a tree as blue, complete with “blue roots.” A rectangular installation made of stones, blue tile, a navy tarp, and a modular blue backboard is named “tomb of the unknown blue.”
“You can’t help being influenced by things that you see,” he said. “Some people have described my work as being cosmic and exploring things beyond our natural realm, so I hope that when people see my work, they get cosmically inspired a little bit…whatever that means,” says Park about his creative practice.
The installation was threatened with forced removal by the Bath township in 2018 when a judge determined all of the items in The Blue Loop–with the exception of a single plastic duck–were “junk.” After a judge ordered Park to remove the artwork from his yard, the public rallied together to demand the township allow Park to continue his work. Chair of the Bath Public Art Committee, Melissa Eggleston, sold blue rubber ducks to Loop supporters, and they began appearing around town as tiny endorsements of Park’s fight to protect his environment. Park appealed the ruling, and he and the township reached a settlement–Park would build a privacy fence between the Loop and the road it abuts and agree to not expand the footprint of the site, though he is allowed to make additions and modifications to the Loop as he sees fit.
Sources:
- https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/opinion/columnists/judy-putnam/2018/11/01/bath-township-officials-win-court-case-take-down-art-installation/1806961002/
- https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/opinion/columnists/judy-putnam/2019/03/25/bath-township-blue-loop-robert-park-art-trash/3227073002/
- https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/picture-gallery/news/local/2018/08/30/blue-loop-artist-robert-parks-1-000-foot-art-installation/1146537002/
- https://cal.msu.edu/news/art-alumnus-featured-in-solo-show-at-scene-metrospace/
- https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/public-support-ensures-outdoor-blue-loop-art-project-stays/
Contributors
Materials
found objects
Map & Site Information
6303 Park Lake Road
Bath, Michigan, 48808
us
Latitude/Longitude: 42.7934181 / -84.4375542
Nearby Environments
Post your comment
Comments
No one has commented on this page yet.