What is Installation Art?


What is installation art? As an artist I love creating installation art and studying other installation artists. Learn more about what is art installation by reading more in this blog post below. 



What is Art Installation?


Installation art emerged in the 1960s and 1970s as part of broader movements that rejected traditional art forms and sought to break the boundaries between art and life. Artists began to explore different ways to engage with the viewer. 



Some early pioneers of installation art include:

  • Marcel Duchamp: His "readymades" in the early 20th century, such as "Fountain" (1917), laid the foundation for questioning what art could be.

  • Yayoi Kusama: Her immersive "Infinity Mirror Rooms" installations began in the 1960s and are still highly influential today.

  • Allan Kaprow: Known for his "Happenings" in the late 1950s and 1960s, which blurred the line between art and performance, and were a precursor to installation art.

Today, it remains a popular and innovative form of artistic practice, often seen in galleries, museums, and public spaces around the world.




Art Installation


Art installation allows the viewer to appreciate and notice the space of where the art is being installed. Art installation can also relate to site specific art. Site-specific art is where artwork is installed in a particular site that best suits the artwork. The art is made for the site in which it is installed. 




Here are some examples of my site-specific artwork below:

patched installation art

In my patched art installation, I install handmade map paper on areas of trees and branches, where the bark has naturally peeled away. 


I start by finding the tree which is the site and then I install the handmade map paper pulp to best fit that particular site. 

Another example of art installation that is site-specific is my artwork called the treehouse series. In this series of artwork, similar to my patched art series, I find a tree that has a woodpecker hole, and then I insert a small, brown hand paper, made house and take a photograph. I have different size houses, that best suits the particular size of the woodpecker hole that I find. This installation art is site-specific as well. 




Installation Artists 

Here is a list of different artists that use installation in their work. 


Yayoi Kusama – Famous for her "Infinity Mirror Rooms" and use of polka dots and mirrors.

Ai Weiwei – Combines political activism with large-scale installations, like "Sunflower Seeds."

Olafur Eliasson – Known for his use of natural elements, such as light and water, in installations like "The Weather Project."

Christo and Jeanne-Claude – Created monumental outdoor installations by wrapping buildings and landscapes.

Marina Abramović – Pioneer of performance and installation art, focusing on the body and endurance.

James Turrell – Creates immersive light installations that manipulate perception, such as "Skyspaces."

Bruce Nauman – Known for installations involving neon lights, sound, and body performance.

Kara Walker – Uses large-scale installations like "A Subtlety" to address themes of race and history.

Anish Kapoor – Renowned for large installations like "Cloud Gate" (The Bean) and his exploration of voids and space.

Jenny Holzer – Integrates text and light in public spaces, creating thought-provoking installations.

Do Ho Suh – Explores themes of home and displacement with fabric-based architectural installations.

Mike Nelson – Known for immersive, narrative-driven installations that often recreate entire rooms or environments.




If you would like to see more of my installation, art click the button below to view more of my artwork. 



I would love for you to connect with me on social media. You can click on one of the icons below to follow me and connect with me. I would love to hear from you.

Canada Artist Grant 



I received a Canada artist grant with th Ontario Arts Council last year and worked on a project that Canada artist grant. I was awarded a grant of $2000 for emerging artists to learn a new skill or for professional development including the purchase of new art supplies. You can learn more about this Canada artist grant in this post!



Canada artist grant/OAC artist grant proposal

For my Canada artist grant I chose to focus on papermaking in my application. I proposed learning how to make paper out of plants and learning how to use the letterpress machine. I wanted to letterpress some of my Patched poems on handmade pieces of map paper I made. I also proposed to purchase some mould and deckles to help me with papermaking some abaca and cotton pulp, a vat and other paper making supplies. 


Canada artist grant/OAC artist grant 

I chose to work with a local paper making company the Papertrail to be able to learn about paper making easier. The Papertrail is based out of New Dundee, Ontario. That’s also where I attended workshops, completed my letterpress poetry project and ordered my papermaking supplies. 


I attended 5 paper making workshops in total with the grant money. A basic beginner paper making workshop, two workshops on making paper with plants and two on using the letterpress. 

Canada artist grant


About the Paper making Workshops 


The Beginner Papermaking Workshop 

This workshop took place in August of 2022 and in this workshop I learned basic skills and refined my paper making skills. We also learned how to use pigments in paper and got to experiment with the sheets of paper we made. 



Letterpress Workshop #1 

I did this workshop in November, during this workshop I learned how to use the letterpress and the history of the letterpress. I also did some test prints of some text with the letterpress. 

canada artist grant with paper making


Paper Making with Plants Workshop

This workshop was a two day back to back workshop in December. In these workshops I learned how to make paper from plants. I made paper from the stems and pods of milkweed as well as from flax. I got to use their hollander beater and beat the pulp by hand. 



Letterpress Workshop #2 

This workshop happened in December. I got to complete my Patched poem project and letterpress 5 different poems I wrote onto handmade map paper. 


All of these workshops were full day workshops. I am grateful for the Canada artist grant with OAC and being able to develop my paper making skills as an artist as well as being able to complete a project and purchase new paper making supplies.  


You can purchase my book Patched that has more poems here!


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OAC grants

Patched Book



Patched by Jackie Partridge

Patched by Jackie Partridge has been an ongoing installation and photography project since 2017 where map paper (made from maps of places I have been to) is embedded into trees where the bark naturally peels away as an act of offering or mending.

Watch the Patched Installation

Patched by Jackie Partridge, map paper on a tree art installation

I have done these installations in various places I have lived and travelled including:

  • Rosendale, New York

  • Johnson, Vermont

  • Waterloo Region

  • Kinmount

  • Huntsville

  • Gravenhurst 

Recent Patched Installations

Patched is installed in Regency Park in Waterloo, ON for the month of July, 2021.

You can see more about this project funded by the City of Waterloo and Create Waterloo - here!

With this funding I also created free seed starter kits - you can see the instructions for the kits- here.

Here is a photo from the installation:

Patched, Jackie Partridge, handmade map paper on tree


In 2018, I was awarded a grant from the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund to create my book Patched which included nature poems about trees and my series of Patched as coloured photographs.

You can purchase Patched by Jackie Partridge - by clicking on the product or heading to my shop!

In the summer of 2019, I created a large-scale installation of Patched on a tree on my grandmother’s property in Kinmount, ON.


Patched by Jackie Partridge Video of Installation (Sped Up):



I created a large sheet of map paper on a vacuum table that sucks out the water from the pulp on my artist residency in 2018 and the Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, New York. I then used a spray bottle of water to dampen the paper and turn it back into to pulp to apply it onto the tree.


To see more from the project click here!


Connect with me on social media by clicking one of the icons below! 


On my instagram @jackiepartridge_ I share photos from this series that can be found searching the hashtag #patchedproject.

Patched, Jackie Partridge, outdoor photography art installation

Patched Ebook


Patched Ebook is a digital version of Jackie Partridge Patched Book. Patched was published in 2018 with the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund. It is a book of 38 pages- a collection of images colour printed of trees around Waterloo Region that have been altered by adding map paper pulp in areas where the bark has naturally peeled away.

In addition to the photographs in my book- there are a series of nature appreciation poems. I began completing this ongoing series of photography during my Master of Fine Arts at Concordia University while I was in the Fibres and Material Practices Program. I was living in Montreal and visited a nearby park often as it reminded me of home. Being in nature and walking in the woods was very meditative and calming for me. I began to really notice the trees and how the bark naturally peeled away exposing them. Since I was interested in paper making I started to add map paper pulp of recycled maps of places I have been onto the trees where the bark was naturally gone and saw this as a poetic form of mending or an offering back to the tree. 


 At the back of the book I have included information about my art process. To see more about this Patched series - click here!



Patched installation using handmade map paper by Jackie Partridge

Patched installation using handmade map paper by Jackie Partridge

I sell my published hard cover book for $50. And I sell my ebook for $9.99. The Ebook is a digital PDF version of my hardcover book.

Head to this link to see my hardcover book!

Take a Look at my Ebook here!

Check out my Instagram by clicking the icon below and search the #patchedproject to see photos from this series!