Art, water and community inspire Lindsay Horne, and as it turns out, so does her social media algorithm.
Her social media feeds displayed photos of the spectacles in the Bosch Parade on the Netherlands’ Dommel River, a biennial salute to the 15th-century Dutch painter. The fantastical images prompted Horne to launch a floating art exhibition as a love letter to the native waterways in Norfolk.
The Hague Parade debuts at 5 p.m. on Sunday, on the water at the intersection of Mill Street and Mowbray Arch; it will end at the Chrysler Museum of Art. Horne’s studio, wastelust, is sponsoring the event in partnership with the museum and billing it as a beautiful dance between the arts and sciences.
The exhibition focuses on appreciating water rather than lamenting rising sea levels and flooding.
Nine artist teams submitted proposals in the spring and were selected to design sustainable floats for the leave-no-trace exhibition. The Netherlands parade honors Hieronymus Bosch, known for his imaginative, bizarre works filled with fantastical and often grotesque creatures. Held over four days in June, the parade showcases outlandish floats along with music and performance, attracting thousands every other year.
Horne hopes the Hague Parade will organically grow into a larger community weekend, featuring a boat race and family activities.
Many of the artists are using canoes or kayaks and creating sculptural elements to complement them. Others are building larger floats with rain barrels.
“We’re very much into the idea that anyone can be an artist,” Horne said. “Collaboration is where the magic happens.
Participants include students from the Governor’s School for the Arts, the Barry Art Museum and potentially California artist Stan Clark, who will be part of Chrysler’s IgNITe arts evening on Friday night. Clark’s Astro Botanicals are illuminated fabric sculptures that travel to venues nationwide.
“We’re going to see if we can get one of his inflatable sculptures on a paddle boat,” Horne said.
Time constraints prevented Jennifer Hand’s floating sculpture class at the Governor’s School from constructing a large vessel. Instead, students received a base as a starting point with encouragement to maximize their creative expression. Hand will be toting the 11 finished mini floats from her kayak.
The students had to consider weight and balance, along with finding sustainable materials.
“It has been magnificent to witness the creative energy of these young people,” Hand said.
Among the results: A floating lily pad with a spider; an octopus tentacle; and four years of discarded math notes transformed into papier-mâché.
“One of the students decided he was never going to need those math notes again,” Hand said.
Ariana Foster, founder of Foster Beauty, wanted to contribute to the event, though, “I didn’t have any building experience to make a float.”
In partnership with Norfolk’s What’s In Your House Boutique, Foster Beauty will host a fashion show on the Hague pedestrian bridge as the floats pass underneath. Models will wear clothing from that store, encouraging people to donate secondhand clothing and items often overlooked in their closets.
Foster said typically designers will dress models for fashion shows, but for this event, “We’re allowing the models to select their look based on the theme, and they’ll also be styling themselves.”
Expect blues, greens and earth tones that tie into the water and “things that flow into the wind,” she said.
Horne’s passion for the arts was awakened through improv comedy, so eventually, adding performance elements and incorporating technology became part of her vision.
Spectators are encouraged to bring beach towels or chairs to watch the hour-long event.
Visit bit.ly/2025Hagueparade for more information.