Venture to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for the Dirt-O-Rama exhibit and you’ll see Orono resident and fiber artist Wendy Johnson’s piece “Earthly Coat.” One of five artists chosen to create a piece for the exhibition, Johnson says she envisioned a similar piece years ago but it had never worked for previous exhibits.
Inspired by how soil acts as a protective clothing for the earth, Johnson created a 7-foot-high coat held up by a welded pipe and wire mesh structure. On the outside of the needle-felted wool coat, Johnson added flowers, plants and leaves to represent the soil we see, while the inside showcases what’s underneath the grass—ants, rocks, seeds, bulbs. “It’s like you picked up the soil and put it into a big coat,” Johnson says.
Need more persuading to visit this interactive display? The coat was buried six inches in the ground, which allowed it to become a part of the soil, and all the decorative vegetation on the coat is found at the Arboretum.
Dirt-O-Rama runs through October 14 at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.
952.443.1400; arboretum.umn.edu
