Come By - Risa Puno
Photos: Meredith Mashburn Photography
Come By is an interactive installation about shared storytelling and getting to know Springdale and the Northwest Arkansas community.
The shape of the panels are traced from the side-facing silhouettes of people in the area. As visitors approach the windows, the nearest panels illuminate and reveal engravings, symbolizing how we learn more about someone the more we engage with them.
The panels feature personal stories from locals, as well as excerpts from the Ozark Story Project, an ongoing creative storytelling endeavor by Amber Perrodin. The center of the installation highlights new treasures from local artists, including a poem by Noelia Cerna, illustrations by Maximiliano Calabotta, and a soundscape by Reilly Dickens-Hoffman.
Come By invites you to explore a collaborative mapping of the emotional terrain of this community. The panels fit together like unique puzzle pieces, representing how each member holds a different part of the area’s history in their memories.
This project was fabricated by Reilly Dickens-Hoffman and Jon Cromer. Special thanks to Angie Albright, Jan Murray Brown, Jeffro Brown, Heidi Ann Faires, Laurie Marshall, Carra Martinez, Melody, Brandon Weston, the staff at CACHE, and everyone else who generously shared their knowledge, insight, memories, and silhouettes.
Artist Bio
Risa Puno is a New York City-based sculpture and installation artist who uses interactivity and play to understand how we relate to one another. She has exhibited with museums and organizations in the US and internationally. In 2019, she was selected by Creative Time for their inaugural Open Call award and was named FIGMENT’s first-ever Interactive Artist of the Year. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, The New Yorker, ProPublica, The Boston Globe. Puno grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. She studied art and medicine at Brown University and earned her MFA from New York University.
The Famous Hardware Store
Located at 113 West Emma Avenue, Springdale, Arkansas, Famous Hardware art installations began in 2021 as a way to make art accessible to the Springdale community and create new experiences for people visiting the city’s downtown. Each installation is visible from the sidewalk in front of the Famous Hardware building and are explained in English, Spanish and Marshallese.
Famous Hardware Store curations were a partnership between CACHE and the Downtown Springdale Alliance, with funding support from the Tyson Family Foundation.
Video: Travis Kersh
