Cloud Cover

June 2 – November 3, 2023

Cloud Cover is a temporary public art installation created by Chris Dahlquist, installed at Shawnee Mission Theatre in the Park in Kansas. As part of the installation, she also created Cloud Cover Bingo – a fun, interactive way to engage with the sky.

Artist Statement for Cloud Cover:

From watching The Wizard of Oz, Annie, and many other musicals in outdoor theaters as a child, to cheering for my musician husband as he takes the stage, live performances hold a special place for me. I still recall those humid summer evenings with the sound of cicadas and the taste of lemonade shared from a thermos with my grandparents, whiling away time before the show begins, until finally twilight slides to nightfall and colorful stage lights illuminate magic. It is with these slow memories and the hunger for the child-like ease of summer that I create Cloud Cover.

This photographic sculpture is a surprising play on perspective, giving a colorful greeting to visitors to Theatre in the Park and the nearby trails. Using photographs of clouds printed on bright acrylic suspended overhead, Cloud Cover celebrates the intersection of the colored stage lights and the open skies intrinsic to the park. It provides a fun and engaging respite from the sun while inviting viewers to lay back, look up, and slow down. Working in concert with the site-responsive sculpture is an additional invitation to the community, Cloud Cover Bingo, a game to be played while enjoying the park or waiting for a show to begin that educates and rewards awareness of the clouds abundant in our Midwestern landscape.

Many thanks to everyone that helped make this piece a reality:

Zahir Poonawala