Create Community: Spaces for Discovery

Saugatuck Center for the Arts

The journey of the Quad-Community Installation, Create Community: Spaces for Discovery begins in the Gallery at the SCA. A floating red row boat explodes with bottles, each filled with a message for the next passerby to discover and find inspiration in. Light peers through the glass of the bottles, reflecting on the space and dreams surrounding it. Bottles spiral off the boat and around the room – creating a sense of still and calm underwater magic.

From there, red row boats float through the garden, prompting viewers to begin their journey exploring our creative community. Waves of bottles and greenery follow the row boats, blending the world of water into the world on land.

Snap a pic and upload it here for a chance to be featured on the SCA Instagram AND for a chance to win a Saugatuck-Douglas prize package!

Each and every location was dreamed, brainstormed, problem solved, drafted, created, and built with your experience in mind.

1 year of planning | 4 months of building | Countless hours on zoom | A few friendly debates

Every installation in Spaces For Discovery is inspirited by children’s literature, the environment that surrounds it, and the people who interact with it.

Children's Literature Inspiration

"The Uncorked of Ocean Bottles" by Michelle Cuevas

The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles, who lives alone atop a hill, has a job of the utmost importance. It is his task to open any bottles found at sea and make sure that the messages are delivered. He loves his job, though he has always wished that, someday, one of the letters would be addressed to him. One day he opens a party invitation—but there’s no name attached. As he devotes himself to the mystery of the intended recipient, he ends up finding something even more special: the possibility of new friends.

Location Inspiration

The Saugatuck Center for the Arts was once known as the Lloyd J. Harriss Pie Company factory, which has been completely renovated from parking lot into plaza, industrial coolers into a 400 seat theater, a work space into a unique gallery space. Every square inch has been transformed into a living, breathing community-based art center. 

Want to get more hands-on with this site? Interested in working directly with the artists? Join us at one of the Quad-Community events happening at the SCA!