What’s Going On Here?

What’s Going On Here? Liminal Spaces Where Art and Nature Intersect Installation — Spring 2026 Community Art Installation
May 29 - June 28, 2026

This is an art show.
It just happens to be teeming with frogs, fairy shrimp, and a little bit of magic.

What’s Going On Here? is a three-part, immersive installation that transforms the Umbrella Arts Center into a living, breathing work of art—one that draws its energy from liminal spaces: vernal pools, backyard edges, cracks in city sidewalks… places where something unexpected is always about to happen.

Through habitable sculpture, photography, sound, and story, the lawn and the Wedge Gallery become a sequence of spatial, visual and sensory encounters  that invite visitors to enter, pass through, and dwell, not just observe.

At the center of the outdoor installation, L’arc operates as both structure and story vessel, a sculptural threshold that gathers visitors and draws them inward.

As you pass through, it becomes a point of narrative entry: a way into the world of The Noisy Puddle, where small, fleeting ecosystems reveal layered relationships, rhythms, and interdependence.

Patio Life shifts the lens to a setting that unfolds just beyond our own doorsteps, in our own yard.

This is art you move through.

Art that stops you.

Art you listen to.

Art that might make you crouch down, lean in, and wonder what else you’ve been missing.

At the center of it all: collaboration.

Linda Booth Sweeney, a systems designer and writer, brings the narrative spine of The Noisy Puddle, a children’s story rooted in wonder, interdependence, and the surprising richness of small worlds.

Linda Ziemba composes space through Habitable Sculpture, creating environments where ideas spark, stories surface, connections form, and conversations carry beyond the moment.

Jamie Collins, a graphic designer and photographer, captures vivid portraits of macro life and uses photography in his exhibit Patio Life  as a way to ponder the natural world, asking questions such as: “Why is the wasp eating the wood chair?“

Together, their work blurs the line between gallery and ground, between art object and living system.

Because here’s the thing:
The smallest places often hold the biggest stories.
And the best art doesn’t just sit still—it shifts how you see.

Nature isn’t the backdrop here—it’s the muse, the material, and occasionally, the co-artist.
Because the best art doesn’t just sit on a wall.
It changes how you see.

This evolving installation will include soundscapes, community conversations, children’s workshops, and unexpected moments of encounter—for anyone willing to look a little closer.

So…
What's going on here?

Exactly.