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A monk in Luang Prabang, Laos creates a peace flag with Safety Harbor artist Todd
Ramquist. The monk’s flag and thousands of others are on display at a holiday art
installation at Ramquist’s Safety Harbor home, “Whimzey.”
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BY FLOYD EGNER
Publisher, Tropical Breeze
A vacation to Myanmar has inspired Safety Harbor artists Kiaralinda and Todd
Ramquist to launch an interactive, communal
art experience that promises to be
a “don’t miss” highlight of the local holiday season. It will envelope their
home in pleas for peace.
“Peace on Earth, Peace by Piece” officially opens Monday, Dec. 17 at the
artists’ home at 1206 Third St. N., Safety
Harbor.
Their home, Whimzey or as it is frequently called, the Bowling Ball House,
will disappear beneath hundreds, perhaps
thousands, of banners expressing desires for peace. The idea began to form
in October as Kiaralinda and Todd traveled literally around the world, flying
from the U.S. to Istanbul, Turkey, on to Southeast Asia and then back to the U.S.
via Korea and Hawaii.
“The idea actually began in a coffeehouse in Istanbul, in conversations with
artists,” Kiaralinda said. “The discussion
was about how writers and artists are in charge of changing how the world thinks
about things.” Experiences on the trip
encouraged the couple to think about ways in which they could contribute to
awareness of world events.
In particular, a long-planned portion of the trip was to visit Myanmar, formerly
Burma, which erupted in violence late in
September as thousands of Buddhist
monks protested repression by the military government that has controlled the
country for decades and has imprisoned
elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi in her
own home since she won the nation’s last democratic election in 1990.
“Friends, family, everyone said don’t go to Myanmar,” Kiaralinda said. “But
years ago, we toasted and made a promise
to D.J. and Catherine.”
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| Todd Ramquist, Catherine Condon, D.J. Condon and Kiaralinda in Luang Prabang, Laos. |
The promise was to visit D.J. and
Catherine Condon whereever they moved
as they began careers as international
educators. The Condons, who 15 years
ago were neighbors of Todd and Kiaralinda in Safety Harbor, first moved from here to Amsterdam with their three
young children. Both sons are now in
college and their daughter recently graduated.
The family has lived and worked in Europe; Taipai, Taiwan and most recently
Myanmar. D.J. is principal at The
International School in Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon.
“We were able to contact D.J. and Catherine and they said it was okay to
visit,” Kiaralinda said. “The military was
not bothering foreign tourists.”
While the Condons were experiencing life in other cultures, Todd and Kiaralinda
were becoming renowned for their art
projects, including several holiday art installations. In addition to their trademark
Safety Harbor residence, they designed
the first of their celebrated art cars. It began as a hearse offered as first
prize in a Halloween costume contest.
By the time the duo was finished, their prize was transformed, covered in multi-color bits of ceramic tile and dubbed
“Play Now, Rest Later.”
The hearse was featured in numerous parades, pictured in Smithsonian Magazine
and finally was shipped to
Amsterdam — where the Condons lived.
The car stayed, the Condons moved on.
Todd and Kiaralinda have traveled the globe. Visits to Mexico inspired a second
extravagantly decorated house, Casa
Loco, which is located across the street
from Whimzey and will be part of the
current holiday installation. In addition to trips to Japan, Korea and, of course,
Taipai while the Condons were living
there, they were on board a flight from Phuket, Thailand to Indian in December
2004 when they learned the Boxing Day
tsunami had destroyed the hotel and community they had just left.
That tragedy inspired them to conduct several fundraisers locally for tsunami
relief charities and, later, more
fundraisers for U.S. charities when
Katrina devastated New Orleans. But the experience in Myanmar was in some
fashion more profound. It gave the
couple a renewed appreciation of the meaning of world peace.
“It’s not just about politics, not just about being anti-war,” Kiaralinda said.
“We wanted to involve the community in
thinking about living the way you want to live, without fear and oppression. But,
because it’s us, we wanted it to be whimsical,
too.”
Among their most whimsical activities during the 1990s were several holiday art
installations that involved the community
in themed projects that so transformed their home that its usual incarnation
seems tame. The most spectacular,
and exhausting, was the Year 2000 millennium
project called “Shine On.” Every bit of the home and yard, including
plants, was wrapped in mylar and aluminum
foil and flooded with lights.
The result was spectacular and visited by thousands, whose contributions resulted
in significant donations to several
charities. Afterward, the artists said there would not be another similar project until
2020. The visit to Myanmar changed
that resolve.
The Whimzey couple’s website, www.kiaralinda.com, offers specific instructions
on how anyone may participate
in the installation by contributing a
“piece” dedicated to peace.
PHOTO FOR TROPICAL BREEZE COURTESY TODD RAMQUIST AND KIARALINDA
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