What Jack Farrar calls “a guerrilla garden” galvanized the Park Hill Alley Art contest that he and his wife, Pam, began sponsoring three years ago. In the interim, surreptitious gardens and covert art installations have bloomed throughout one of Denver’s most diverse neighborhoods.
Q: How did the guerrilla garden come about?
A: There was a little abandoned plot of land behind a garage that belonged to an older couple we know. Delightful people, but they didn’t use their garage anymore, and this patch of dirt had become neglected. So we cleaned it up and planted some things and put some stuff up on the garage.
Q: When you say “stuff,” what kind of stuff do you mean?
A: Well, mostly a lot of kitchen utensils. Spoons and cups. A sifter.
Q: How did you attach everything?
A: We screwed them on. Most of the stuff we do is screwed up. We screw stuff up, so to speak! We purposefully put up stuff so that it’s removable. If people don’t like it, then it’s easy to take down. Or it’s easy to change. Every so often, we’ll change stuff.
Q: And do people like what you put up?
A: We had an interesting experience a couple of days ago. We put up some stuff on a fence that faces Colfax Avenue. It’s private property, and we thought it was neglected. So we were putting up a piece when a guy drives up and says he’s the property owner. Well, we hadn’t gotten permission in this case, so we thought he wanted to take everything down. But there was just one piece he didn’t like.
Q: What was it?
A: It was the only piece with painting on it. We put it up just as we’d found it. It was a piece of whiteboard with the words “Break your heart” spray-painted on it. He said to take it down because he didn’t want graffiti or writing on the fence. I think a lot of people feel the same way. People want art to be more abstract. He was very cool with everything else.
Q: What do other people think about your alley art?
A: When people catch us, we often have very interesting conversations. Most of them like what we’re doing and are just very curious about it.
Q: Where do you find your materials?
A: Mostly, it’s things we get at yard sales or the ARC store.
