A bright, soothingly detailed blue and white mandala sits perched in a tree in a Tahoe forest, patiently waiting for someone to come find it. Along with it is a note that reads: “Congratulations! You just found yourself some free art! Hoping to brighten someone’s day in a colorful way. You can bring your new art home to hang up and enjoy, or you can pass it along to a friend, or you can leave it here for the next lucky person. (This is an archival print that can be removed from the bag and framed if desired.) Much love Tahoe! We are stronger together.”
The mandala was Tahoe native Nicole Stirling’s ninth art drop, a project that she started by placing her mandala prints in nature in mid-March at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Born and raised in Tahoe, Stirling specializes in painting mandalas. Originally, she sold her art at Handmade at the Lakein Incline Village, Nev., but when the shop permanently closed a few months ago due to the pandemic, she needed to relocate her art.
“The owner handed me a big stack of prints that I just wrote off as a loss. So I thought I’d just give them away,” she says.
In mid-March, Stirling took a few of her mandala prints to the post office and laundromat in Tahoe Vista, the post office in Kings Beach and a couple other places with the same congratulatory note. In total, she hid five. They were eventually found, but she doesn’t know by whom.
“They were definitely gone within 24 hours, but I don’t know what happened to them,” she says.
“I just put them out. I didn’t leave any clues because everyone was supposed to be self-isolating and it was hard to know what was okay and not. I didn’t want any backlash.”
Stirling concentrated on placing the art in spots where locals would find them before she started leaving photo clues on local Facebook groups. She placed one mandala in front of Tahoe Central Market and within 5 minutes someone found it.
Forty paces off of the bike trail that leads to North Tahoe Regional Park. | Nicole Stirling
“The next one I hid behind the fire station and library in Kings Beach and that one took a little longer to find but a local person who works at Safeway found it; I was very happy it was an essential worker,” Stirling says.
She placed her next artwork off a bike path in Tahoe Vista near her parents’ house and she watched as people looked for it.
According to Stirling, she did her ninth art drop on June 18 in Truckee because “Kings Beach people know Kings Beach really well, so I tried to expand. I will continue doing it throughout the summer.”
Her favorite part of doing the art drops is “the thrill of hiding it and giving it away to someone who appreciates and loves it.”
Stirling studied art and music at California State University, Chico before moving back to North Lake Tahoe and has been painting mandalas for eight years.
“I’ve always liked round art, bubbles, orbs. I’m interested in repetition and small details. The art drops make me feel like I can help a little bit when I don’t know how else to contribute and do something based around the community. Our community members need to be recognized, too,” she says.
When asked if she thinks more Tahoe locals have found the art drops more than visitors have, Stirling says, “When I was hiding them and not posting clues to Facebook then I felt like more locals were finding them. No one else was really up here at the time I started doing the art drops and who else would’ve gone to the post office and laundromat? I’m aiming to hide one a week. Since I’m from here I have some secret spots.”
Stirling will also be participating in Game of Shrooms to be held on Aug. 15, a global art-themed scavenger hunt. Started by Hi-Fructose magazine co-founder Daniel Seifert, the idea behind the Game of Shrooms is to allow artists from all over the world to hide mushroom-themed art in obvious urban places.
“The idea is to place something from nature and put it in an urban area. A number of other artists are participating,” she says. | stirlingstudiostahoe.com
