Water is Life - Hidden Springs - New Performance

To View Performance Photos Click Here.
 Water is Life Part 1
Hidden Springs
 Atlanta
Spirit of the Springs
Inspiration
Two major influences, history and healing, inspired the creation of Hidden Springs - an original, outdoor, site specific performance work. In September 2000 I became the Artistic Director of The MASK Center - located on the ground floor of The Little Five Points Community Center in Atlanta. During renovation into an exhibit, studio and performing venue Joe Shifalo, the then building manager, told me the space was directly above a spring that had once been part of a field hospital that treated injured soldiers during The Civil War. I think of this often as I work and create in the space. This historic reality has been aching to express itself artistically for over a decade and especially now as 2011 begins the 150th anniversary of The Civil War.

Water to Heal
During the summer of 2009 with support from Alternate ROOTS and the Ford Foundation I returned to the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland, a United Nations’ training center for planetary sustainability, to attend a workshop focalized by staff member Franco Santoro. Franco's workshop introduced a process that offers the opportunity to align with a landscape to encourage the emergence of cooperative processes with the land, nature, ourselves and others. This type of intentional action invites renewal, re-creation and rejuvenation. During 2010 a staff member at the Oakhurst Community Garden in Decatur, Georgia and a community coordinator at the award-winning East Lake Commons Co-housing in Atlanta worked with me to implement this design approach in support of each organization’s vision for its community. An essential premise is that the land has a history that needs to be recognized and healed. Hidden Springs encourages this process.
Sandra Hughes
March 2011
Atlanta, Georgia
Water to Drink
Concept
The title Hidden Springs refers to the once famous Ponce de Leon Springs and other lesser-known springs in and around Atlanta that were once above ground until buildings and other forms of development covered or diverted them. The production features visual art, dance, drama, music, mime, masks, storytelling and narration as well as audience and community participation to bring the story of the springs to life through performance to celebrate the historic importance of these water sources to the residents of Atlanta during the 1860's.
Creative Team
Creative Team Members include: Gateway Performance  Productions Principal Artists: Jerilynn Bedingfield, Michael Hickey and Sandra Hughes; Gateway Artist-in-Residence Hilda Willis; Gateway Affiliate Artists Gwyneth Bragdon and Allen Pittman; Musician Paul Byrum who collaborated with Sandra Hughes for her production of Simple Gifts about the the birth of the textile industry in Dalton, Georgia and Gateway Associate Bunny Vrooman.   

Site Images Created by Michael Hickey 

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