Sergei Isupov & Kadri Pärnamets
2022
mixed media, mosaic installation, made with ceramic shards
82 x 64 x 22″

The mosaic sculpture Miss Comet landed at Project Art in summer of 2022. Designed by Sergei Isupov, the 9′ sculpture was fabricated and completed in collaboration with artist Kadri Pärnamets. Now a permanent installation in front of their studio at Project Art on Main Street in Cummington, MA, the artists engaged with the local community throughout the process.

Miss Comet was proposed for Reflections, a grant funded public art project to create new works reflecting on the land and history of the area. Working in late spring of 2022, the couple received donations, excavated shard piles at nearby pottery studios, and produced fabricated elements to articulate the figure’s features. Throughout the process, unwanted, forgotten, chipped, broken plates and other treasures, including “mudsharked” river shards were left at the sculpture’s base to be incorporated. Donations came with tales of family histories, prior ownership, unfortunate demise or abandonment. Ceramic shards include fragments of work by Michael McCarthy, Paul Scott, Mark Shapiro, Eric Smith, Mara Superior, and Connie Talbot. Part archaeology, part commemoration, each object tells a story and provides an opportunity to reflect on the present and history in this small but deeply connected Western Massachusetts community.

Sergei Isupov
2024
repurposed maple tree, paint, wooden base

Sergei Isupov, resident artist at Project Art in Cummington, MA, completed a carved wooden figural sculpture titled “Everything is Upside Down”. Over three weeks in Spring 2024, Isupov used power tools to shape the trunk of a sugar maple tree on Main Street, left behind after its top-half was cut down due to storm damage in the winter of 2024.

The Cummington Cultural District funded the artist’s proposal with an honorarium as part of the 2024 Arts Activation Project. As he worked, many members of the community watched and engaged with the artist in the progress. Once the carved figure was painted, and with help from other community members, Sergei moved the sculpture from its rooted base and installed it across the street at Project Art. It now faces Main Street, enjoyed by passers by and in dialogue with other public art along Main Street.

Sergei Isupov
2021
repurposed tree branch, styrofoam, paint

Next door from Project Art lives the Branch Dragon, a towering figure formed from a neighboring tree branch. Naturally curved with extended “arms”, the branch merely needed a head to come to life. Sculpted from styrofoam and embellished with paint, Sergei mounted the head and secured the branch body with 2 grounding posts. The sculpture is visible from Main Street in Cummington, MA.

Sergei Isupov
2022
repurposed tree branch, porcelain, slip, glaze

Project Art has a barn cat! Sergei has made numerous ceramic forms that are made to perch on fallen branches from the Project Art grounds. Having done multiple smaller branch installations in our Gallery, Sergei chose our red barn for his most recent installation. Find the cat guarding our parking pad at Project Art, visible from Main Street.