The Old Lyme landscape, with its conjunction of river, marshes, fields, and forests served as the inspiration for the American Impressionist movement in the early 20th century. Flores saw a connection between the sustained gaze of these artists and the extraordinary efforts in conservation in the area. “The artists gave the land value for its irreplaceable natural beauty and since the mid 1960’s Old Lyme citizens have responded and worked tirelessly to preserve some of the habitats that lured artists there.” Working in collaboration with several local land trusts and individual stewards and local artists, Flores designed the Vision Box project. Once installed, the public was lured out to explore, walk and respond to the art and conservation history at four diverse sites.

Commission: Public Art/ RI Latino Arts 2014

Designer and Artist: Ana Flores

Fabrication of collapsable cart: The SteelYard, Meredith Younger

In 2014 RI Latino Arts requested a public art project that would be a visual compliment to the oral histories of Rhode Island Latino immigrants collected by Marta Martinez.  Flores’s response was Cafe Recuerdos”, an artful and functional coffee cart which celebrates the ritual of cafe as a stimulant for creating community and as a catalyst for memories. Bustelo coffee cans were collected and donated by the community and these form the wall with painted anecdotes and portraits selected from collected stories.

The cart is used by RI Latino Arts to go into libraries, schools and parks for public programs. The project has recieved many awards, including from the American LIbrary Association, and from New Enlgand Foundation for the Arts.

Hope Valley, Rhode Island

Sculptor: Ana Flores

Landscape architect: Elena Pascarella

Depot Square park was created to mark the historic hub of Hope Valley. Thriving mills were once located nearby next to the river, and people would come from miles around to work, to shop, to visit, and to meet the short 5.7-mile railroad that connected the town to the outside world. The branch railroad ran from 1874 to 1947, carrying goods and passengers to meet the main Boston-to-New York line at Wood River Junction.

The design of the park reflects the rich natural and human history of the area. The stone walls reflecting the curves of the river are “talking walls,” containing etched quotes collected from life long residents in the town. The fountain in the center compresses many layers of history, a restored horse trough which marked the center of this area is now the water basin and resting on top is a sculptural element that alludes to the glaciers that once shaped this valley.

Wilcox Park, Westerly RI

Galvanized Metal, Concrete, Plants

“Herb Ladies” is an ongoing series of outdoor sculptures made for gardens and park settings. They are female figures, a little larger than life size, made out of ornamental ironwork and cast cement

The torso and skirts are fashioned out of metal rod and become a caged enclosure alluding to grills, gates, bird cages and trellises. The head and arms are modeled realistically first in clay then cast in pigmented cement. Inside the dress growing vines are planted.

Their growth, flowering and seasonal patterns become an essential element of the sculpture. The planting of the sculpture also adds an element of community participation and involvement in the aesthetics of the piece.

Her ‘dress’ can change yearly depending on the whim and imagination of the gardener or gardeners.

An environmental art project designed to engage communities with their landscape through poetry, art and hiking. “Poetry boxes” made by Flores and community members are sited along trails and areas of special geographical interest. Inside each are poems about nature and a journal for public response. The project, begun in 2003, has traveled to many communities in the U.S. including: Colorado Springs, CO, St Louis, MO, New London, CT, Mystic Ct, University of Connecticut’s campus by the sea, Avery Point, Groton, CT. 

As an artist-in-residence at the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Charlestown, RI, Flores created an installation “Punctuating Place”. The project goal was to illuminate different areas of human habitation in the landscape using the materials used by the culture of the time. The figurative groupings represented the indigenous people of the area, the Narragansetts, the colonial European settlers, and the slavery period in Rhode Island. Each grouping also had a history box and public journal.

9/11 Memorial Garden for those who were lost on 9/11 from SE  Connecticut. Site: Lyman Allen Museum grounds, New London, Ct. Bronze, Blown Glass

In 2005 Flores was commissioned to design a sculpture that would be part of a memorial garden. One of those lost, was a four year old girl who believed in a family fairy tale about thread fairies. Her fairy became one of the many elements of this sculptural pergola connecting the forces of heaven and earth.  The top of the sculpture, a spiral and symbol of eternal life, has 10 glass blown dew drops, for each life lost.