Current Grounds4Art Projects

Terrace with multi-colored tiles and garden

About the Project

Blending creative placemaking with social practice, Fledgling aims to empower the local community to consider creative solutions for addressing issues of food insecurity, sustainability, and inclusion by designing an accessible and mobile platform for the community to gather, interact, and learn. This initiative will build on the success of a recent project, NEST (Nourishment, Education, and Social Terraces), which resulted in two socially-activated greenspaces on HCC campuses in 2020-21. Fledgling, whose name references both HCC’s hawk mascot and the project’s ability to venture beyond the NEST sites, will bring a creative sculpture into the community for diverse dialogue and engagement. Tory Tepp, who created the NEST sites, will be the creative lead for Fledgling. Tepp’s numerous public projects center on the exploration and reestablishment of the metaphysical connections between the social and environmental ecologies that shape urban communities. Taking place during the 2021-22 academic year, the planning and fabrication phases of Fledgling will include several opportunities for community participation. More information will be announced as those opportunities arise throughout the year.

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Volunteering

If you are interested in working alongside artist Tory Tepp to fabricate this year’s project, we’d love to hear from you! Fabrication will occur January-February 2022. Contact us at: artgalleries@hccfl.edu.

Looking for an opportunity to give back to your community? Lend a helping hand alongside our artist, Tory Tepp, by signing up for a volunteer opportunity this spring. Participants of all skill levels are welcome! Multiple dates and activity types are available through our online signup page.

Locations and Parking

Volunteering opportunities typically take place around our NEST sites at the HCC Dale Mabry and Ybor City Campuses, depending on your sign-up date. Please see below for location and parking information.

HCC Dale Mabry Campus NEST site: Get there with Google maps; located between the Humanities and Sciences buildings. Parking on campus is free and open to the public.

HCC Ybor City Campus NEST site: Get there with Google maps; located next to the Visual Arts building). Parking passes can be provided for volunteers on the date of their sign-up

About the Artist

Tory Tepp received his under-graduate BFA in painting from Parson’s, the New School for Design in New York City and an MFA in 2009 as part of the inaugural class of Suzanne Lacy’s Public Practice program at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. There he developed his practice around the exploration and reestablishment of the metaphysical connections between the social and environmental ecologies that shape urban communities. Tepp has completed projects all over the U.S., including New Orleans, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Death Valley, the High Sierra Mountains, New Smyrna Beach, Tampa, and the Wormfarm Institute in Wisconsin.

Contributors

This project is made possible with the support of: Hillsborough Arts Council and The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, HCC Foundation, Tempus Projects, HCC Dale Mabry and Ybor City Campus Student Government Associations.

Project Partners

On behalf of the HCC Public Art Committee, Grounds4Art also recognizes our project partners: Feeding Tampa Bay, HCC Foundation, Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture & the Arts, and Tempus Projects.

Grounds4Art

Past Projects