Izzy the Frog in Lumina Land

Housatonic Museum

Bridgeport, CT

2004

Izzy the Frog in Lumina Land, was an experiential exhibition, leading the viewers/participants through a landscape of reflective ponds of water, moving images and light, glass structures, bubbling water tanks, a series of large drawn images, accompanied by a sound track produced in collaboration with Istvan Peter B'Racz.

The exhibition illustrates stories of the evolution of our relationship with toads and frogs as symbols of transformation through multicultural myths and as the species of warning of universal ecological breakdown. Bringing IZZY THE FROG to an urban setting, creating surrealistic installations of
 media art of and about nature in the Housatonic Museum emphasized the need for environmental awareness beyond rural locations. The sound of a frog can be heard in nearly any environment that provides water. We all know what the sound is like. Children will know the magical frogs from stories - fairy tales
to contemporary.

The IZZY exhibition created a multi-sensory experience that was so engaging that the audience was drawn to spend time within the exhibition to discover the source of the imagery-the use of the frog image throughout human history to represent change and transformation. Accompanying frog music
triggered by the participants through sensors.

The Installation

The installation included branches, bubbling and reflective water, scrolls of drawings depicting frogs as they morph from egg to maturity, their delicate response to environmental change, and cultural myths through time from around the world.

The visual experience was accompanied by a three-part sound track created by Istvan Peter B’Racz from gathered recordings of frogs and toads and excerpts from international music. There is accompanying catalogue, with a brief history of frogs, to include allegorical figures in world cultures and their biological history around the world and throughout time.

The Educational Sessions

The Izzy exhibition created a multi sensory experience engaging audiences of all ages. The preschool program at Housatonic Community College brought children into the space to read stories of frogs, their metamorphic biology and the myths that have sprung up around them throughout time in so many cultures. The teacher described the exhibition as a wonderful and rare opportunity to expose children to the importance and meaning of art for learning and cultural understanding.

The exhibition was intended to pull together the interests and audiences of the Beardsley Zoo, with their amphibian exhibit, and the Housatonic Museum to create a series of works that will both offer a wondrous and unique experience for all ages while
introducing an educational opportunity to become proactive in environmental stewardship. The combined efforts of these two institutions made a significant contribution in bringing the variety of populations in Fairfield County and beyond, and offered a unique opportunity for visitors from other parts of the
state and the northeast to visit Bridgeport.

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Beardsley Zoo

Bridgeport, CT

2004

Children's program of frog story telling with craft activities. Projects2k educational designers will collaborate with the Zoo's educational staff to create a wonderful amphibian environment to accompany the programs.

Ecological presentations by Zoo Director, Gregg Dancho about the importance of the health of frogs as related to the health of the environment. How the Terra formed a Zoo pond to create an environment for the return of the frog and toad population after experiencing a "silent spring." Others from
the Department of Environmental Protection and University of Connecticut biologists were invited to participate as well.

Dancers gathered children for a parade to the stage where a live concert by Istvan Peter B'Racz's and Tom Burnett was mixed with frog and toad sounds.