A site-specific installation by Anya Klepikov while at the I-Park artist residency in CT, 2023.

Antique wooden bed frame, brass keys, fishline, mattress pad, pillow, outdoor white canvas, polyurethane, staples.

76" x 27" x 73"

The narrow four-poster bed stands in the middle of a trail, in a clearing surrounded by the greenery of trees and ferns and a patch of sky overhead. Visitors who happen upon it are invited to enjoy the experience by taking off their shoes, lying down on their back, and playing with the strings of keys hanging down from the four-poster frame.

When I came across this beautiful antique bed frame at a thrift shop - (advertised as “a nun’s bed”) - it seemed the perfect expressive container for the experience of the I-Park artist residency: staying in a cabin in the middle of the woods, with a porta potty outside, isolated from the usual noise of the world in order to commune with an internal artistic voice.

The bed’s stark white mattress and pillow were designed with comfort in mind and allow the visitor to experience relaxation typically associated with an interior context. The wood is treated with a coat of polyurethane to withstand the elements and preserve the look of an interior piece of furniture.

The keys on fishline strings evoke a percussion and string instrument at once. It is fun to play with them, and there is no right way to do it. Their magical sound, like a prayer bell, lifts the focus up to the framed rectangle of sky overhead and encourages a deeper awareness of the surrounding natural sounds of birdsong, leaves, and even planes overhead. Glimmering with sound and light when touched by wind or hand, the keys are in tune with the shimmer of forest leaves.

I wanted to amplify and share with others the exquisite private experience of a heightened silence in the middle of nature. This piece is aligned with my passion for tapping objects’ natural potential for aesthetic awe, as well as for creating a space for childlike play, a necessary space for us all to visit from time to time.

Photos: Anya Klepikov, Kaitrin Acuna, Jason Ting.

A site-specific installation created during the artist residency program at I-Park, CT, 2023. Around the time when birder Alberta Mirer introduced us to bird-watching, a mystery nest was discovered on the Pine Circle Trail. It was visited by a wild animal soon thereafter…

Photos: Kaitrin Acuna, Anya Klepikov.

A site-specific installation at I-Park, CT by Anya Klepikov, 2023.

Uncarved styrofoam from appliance packaging, garden netting, steel staples, wooden skewers, fishline, and water bottles.

54" x 54" x 54"

I had ended up with a lot of packing styrofoam that my kitchen appliances arrived in and couldn’t bear to throw it away since it’s both beautiful and doesn’t recycle well. I-Park, CT gave permission for a temporary installation, and I used garden netting (the kind intended to protect blueberry bushes from birds) to achieve ice-like translucency and to also protect the surrounding environment from any bits of crumbling styrofoam. The piece is dedicated to designer-organizer Sophie Weston Chien, my cohort-mate at I-Park, who insisted that the sculpture should float in the nearby pond to help connect the thematic dots between global shipping routes, packaging materials and impact on the climate. Weary of getting any styrofoam into the water, I ended up using giant water bottles available from I-Park’s art material junk pile as a stand-in for water.

Diana Oh's Depression Box collaborates with Set & Costume Designer Anya Klepikov. Video excerpt of process included.

I wanted to create a more tactile encounter with a poem I love, "Unusual facts", by Amherst-based poet Hannah Brooks-Motl. Inspired by the deep history of printers in the Western Massachusetts Pioneer Valley, but without a printing press, I "printed" the poem by creating a stencil, and with the author's blessing on the layout, sprayed a limited number of copies on tissue paper. The result is an isolated poem that one can crumple up and stick in one's pocket after reading, and then pull back out and un-crumple later - a tactile object to interact with more directly, in big letters one can easily read. It's nice to touch and meditate on just one poem. Every copy is unique as a function of the spray.

"Muddy waters". "Heirloom". "Queer Kintsugi". "Patched". "Flown". Acrylic and glass composition. Untitled with black yarn. "Hidden fragile". Broken glass and acrylic composition. "Winter's Tale terrarium".

This sculpture was inspired by Alexander Archipenko's bronze on marble sculpture on show at the Mead Museum and part of "The Juncture: Ukrainian Artists in Search of Modernity and Identity". The body of the basilisk was made out of sculpted pulp baskets and treated with deck sealer, polyurethane and wood stain. The marble came from illustrator Lauren Mills' studio during her move in summer of 2024. A few process shots included here.

I love the olive oil tortas made by Ines Rosales and also their beautiful packaging. They’re always gone too fast, leaving wasteful guilt-ridden packaging. Here I’ve recycled the wax paper wrapping into an art object by making a surrogate torta out of candle wax and using the plastic clam shell inside the original packaging as a mold for the wax. The shape is different but the shine and flakiness of the wax sculpture and the color spottiness of the wax evoke an edible object. My torta is tantalizing and forever. :)

"Egg pool". "Stitches". "Dinosaur breasts". "Breakfast". "Flag". "Chocolates". "Surprise". "40 portions".

Illustrations for a book of children's poetry by Marina Eskina.

https://mgraphics-books.com/product/explanation-of-a-firefly/

Unrealized production proposal, co-conceived with Mike Donahue.

Unrealized production proposal for theaters of Como, Brescia, Pavia, Cremona_Opera Europa Competition.

AINADAMAR

Opera by Osvaldo Golijov

Winner of Opera America’s Director Designer Showcase 2009

Presented at Opera America Conference in Houston, 2009

Scenic and Costume Designer: Anya Klepikov

Scenic and costume sketches by Anya Klepikov with the exception of scenic sketches for PRELUDIO, SPAIN IS A BULL BURNING ALIVE and A LA HABANA which were created in collaboration with Ji-Youn Chang (lights) and Daniel Vatsky (projections).

Scenic model by Anya Klepikov and Lucy Qin

Lighting Designer: Ji-Young Chang

Projection Designer: Daniel Vatsky

Director: Mike Donahue

Choreographer: Sara Erde

Producer of brochure: Roberta Pereira

Designer of brochure: Maggie Elliott