‘Over-the-top’ science fair art to transform Point Pelee National Park

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Visitors to the Canadian mainland’s southernmost point will be in for a whimsical treat this October, as Windsor artists turn the park into a carnival-like fair — blending art with interactive science exhibits. 

“People will be having a day at the park with their families and then this really absurdist artwork is going to interrupt it,” said Jennifer Willet, one of hundreds of artists participating in the provincewide Ontario Culture Days from September 20 to October 13.

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Willet is a Canadian artist, researcher, and curator. She is a professor in the School of Creative Arts and a Canada Research Chair in Art, Science and Ecology at the University of Windsor.

Her work, Baroque Biology, will be presented — through experimentation, storytelling, sculpture, parades and performance — during an outdoor art and science fair at Point Pelee National Park on Sunday, October 6, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

“The main goal of my art is making art,” Willet said. “I’m really interested in whimsical, creative engagement with science and technology in the living world.

“My work is very beautiful. It’s very over-the-top.”

The Ontario Culture Days festival is an annual celebration of arts, culture and heritage across Ontario.

Organizers work with artists of all disciplines to produce installations, performances and community-based activities for the free provincewide festival.

“The goal is to really engage the general public in the art world and the art and culture scene,” Willet told the Star. “It’s also promotes what we do on a larger scale — outside of museums, galleries and those types of things.”

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Willet works in a field called BioArt, which is art and biotechnology. Her work is centred around scientific processes, procedures, and living organisms.

“I’ve lived now in Windsor for 16 years,” Willet said. “I worked hard to educate myself on the Great Lakes Basin and our local ecology. This work really delves into that.

“For example, one of the pieces is called the Great Lakes Algae Organ. It’s a large bicycle-pulled street organ. It looks like a Dutch street organ, like something from a fair, and it plays music, but it also is an algae farm, and I use it as a way to talk to audiences about algae in the Great Lakes region.

“If I create some sort of, like, really elaborate, wonderful, immersive art experience, the next thing you know, people are talking about algae and they’re learning about algae science on a weekend with their families.”

The Arts Council Windsor & Region will provide a free round trip bus excursion to Point Pelee National Park on Sunday, October 6. The bus trip begins at 11 a.m. from ArtSpeak Gallery in Walkerville. 

For more information about Ontario Culture Days or to register for the bus trip, visit the online website culturedays.ca.

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