The Garden at First Pres

During the summer of 2024, First Presbyterian Church of St. Petersburg hosted a collaborative garden art installation in the worship area. The garden grew week by week as artists from the congregation contributed flowers, creatures, and other elements — a living, expanding creative project built by the community.

I contributed four pieces to the installation. A set of 3D printed hummingbirds that I and other FPC members painted and embellished — some with glitter, some with bold color. A lighted hummingbird feeder with fairy lights and painted birds perched around it. A pair of ibis built from wire frames with real feather wings. And a galvanized watering can modified with a lattice cutout and internal lighting that gave it a warm glow.

The pieces sat across different techniques — printing, painting, wire work, lighting — but they all landed in the same place: something handmade for a shared space, built to be noticed and enjoyed by the people walking through it.