Artists SALYER + SCHAAG Lead Immersive ‘Garden Party’ Experience At Leach Teaching Gardens
Curiosity, illusion and creativity were celebrated during “Andy and Kate’s Garden Party” by SALYER + SCHAAG, a two-night event at the Leach Teaching Gardens at Texas A&M.
Produced by the Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts, the March garden party featured student-devised poetry, choreography and music, along with guest faculty directors, designers and technicians in the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts.
Andrew Salyer and Katie Schaag have been creating immersive, multisensory, site-specific performance art for more than a decade. Salyer is a professor of art history at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia; Schaag is an assistant professor of theatre and performance at Spelman College in Atlanta.
The duo, invited as artists in residence by the Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts, led a two-week intensive workshop with students to create this site-specific performance. Dr. James R. Ball III, the academy’s director and associate dean for industry and community engagement, said these collaborations will contribute to the college’s continued growth.
“We have this mechanism now to really circularize and integrate students into regular academic curriculum, in an experience where they are working directly with a professional artist to make professional quality work,” Ball said.
Guests wandered the garden party to see live theatrical and musical performances by students and faculty. Schaag said the event was crafted to be immersive for participants to experience altered environments, and to expand their perceptions of ecological contexts.
Salyer and Schaag visited the Texas A&M campus twice over the past two years to research aspects of The Gardens such as plant species and soil composition to cultivate a site-specific experience. They collaborated with faculty and staff to design scenery, costumes and sound.
“The performance aligns with the garden’s mission of cultivating curiosity and wonder in the natural world,” Schaag said. “As we guide guests through the show, we encourage them to look at how gorgeous the flowers are, take a breath, immerse themselves, and really notice what is in front of them — like the grackles, ball moss and worms.”
Salyer said guests were able to experience a newfound perspective of the world through this ecological setting.
“This experience is highlighting certain things about nature that are already amazing,” Salyer said. “We have also added some spotlights in a theatrical sense where we really hope people walk away re-enchanted with the world.”
In a three-act structure of nine scenes, guests were treated to a variety of sights, tastes, sounds and smells.
Act I included an “ecological orientation” as guests were given sea salt brownies, popcorn, fizzy water, edible flowers and kaleidoscope glasses. Audience members were invited to perform synchronized movements and “leap through a magic portal” in the Rain Garden, Schaag said. That was followed by an ethereal musical performance in the Food and Fiber Fields by students and Dr. Will Connor, Performance and Visual Studies lecturer.
Act II was titled “The Gardens, The Sunset and The Wilderness.” Guests walked through the Herb Garden and Kitchen Garden for a poetry performance by student Ciara Anderson. Guests also listened for bird calls near a birdseed sculpture created by Joseph Johnson, manager of the Gardens.
In the final act, guests were treated to local wine, honey and artisan cheeses in the Butterfly and Bee Gardens while students acted as characters from the Victorian and Romantic eras in the Vineyard as they danced and recited poetry. Students performed with a ball moss creature played by graduate student A.J. Villarreal. Two scenes featured direction from Anne Quackenbush and Dr. Angenette Spalink, assistant professors in Performance and Visual Studies.
The students performed in the Butterfly and Bee Garden between trees and ball moss, and in the Pavilion, which showcased a giant two-tier white cake made from wood. Yuna Lo, a sophomore Performance and Visual Studies student, performed as a worm that jumped out of the cake during a celebration scene, while guests popped biodegradable confetti.
Lo was one of several students who participated in the two-week workshop intensive. She said she learned how to devise a show with people who have a mutual passion for performance. She hopes guests were able to leave the show feeling grounded.
“I feel like everyone can sometimes be so isolated from nature,” she said. “But through this performance, we want people to feel they are a part of nature, to feel connected to their environment and where they came from. I really enjoyed every part of this experience.”
