To many Philadelphian natives, the honey locust tree is cultivated for its beauty, elegance, and durability. It is found in abundance around the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and Fairmount Park, serving as a wonderous portico from city to suburb. During the Fall season, it turns a golden yellow–giving a protective coat over its city of brotherly love, as winter begins its slow taking.
In honor of these sanguine beams of joy, InLiquid artists and creative partners Kate Kaman and Joel Erald, together known as EKE, have created an interactive sculpture to grace Park Town Place’s Rain Garden, titled Honey Locust. Commissioned by AIMCO and installed in celebration of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway’s Centennial, EKE’s dynamic, arching, 46-foot sculpture elevates the familiar leaves to a monumental scale, gracing its visitors with shade, and when winds pass through its leaves, air. Placed in the Rain Garden at Park Towne Place Museum District Residences, Honey Locust will provide vibrant color all year.
Kate Kaman (b.1981 Cleveland, Ohio) and Joel Erland (b.1978 – Coimbra, Portugal) are contemporary visual artists whose collaborative works are drawn from botany and organic life. Multi-disciplinary skills—ranging from traditional sculptural techniques to cutting-edge computer manufacturing processes—enable this dynamic duo to create contemporary environmental artworks. With their works installed in corporate interiors, Honey Locust is to be their first outdoor interactive sculpture in this city, to be enjoyed by both Park Towne Place’s and Philly’s residents.
