New York artist Annie Quick is spending this rainy April afternoon constructing her installation with the help of a couple dozen helpers. “Souvenirs and Shiny Things” opens tomorrow at the Harrison Center for the Arts and it’s really best if she explains it.

Can you give a brief explanation of the show if that’s possible?
Central Park itself in New York used to be a big swampy land and at some point they decided, ‘Well, we need a little heart of New York, we need our own little happy place.’ They brought in rocks and dug lakes and the effect is really quite natural. Last winter I was inside all winter because I had a problem with my back, basically. I was missing the park so I had this idea to make my own park. So I started knitting trees and coming up with all these ideas for trees that were not only fun to look at but you could also do things with them. Each one of them has something to pick and eat out of it or interact with somehow. The one tree is made of tubas or horns and you can blow in them and they’ll light the bulbs that are in the branches.

Is this the first time you’ve done this or is it a recreation of something you’ve done elsewhere?
I’ve done it elsewhere but I’ll always add a thing or two.

What are the elements that are unique to this space?
I made a sky for this space, I painted some cloudy, branchy sky so when people lay on the ground they can look up at the sky.

How many people are assisting you and where did they come from?
I had some Herron art students help me out while I am here, my dad, who is an engineer, has helped me make it so that when people climb the trees they don’t fall. This is more a big sculptural framework that I don’t know how to do.

How did you find your way to the Harrison Center?
I used to make a living, if such a thing can be said, by traveling with a band. When I started touring I was always going through Indianapolis and someone contacted me from here and said, ‘hey, do you need a place to stay?’ So I ended up staying here for five years every time I’d come through town, which was so kind of them. When they found out that I kind of transitioned into this art thing they were interested to see what it was and it worked in perfect with our Garden Party theme.

Is there something that you hope people will take away from this after seeing it?
People normally come into a gallery expecting to look at things and I hope that people come in and they’re like, ‘oh, there’s grass and I can sit on it and oh my goodness, there’s a cupcake in that tree…oh, I probably shouldn’t touch it. I’m gonna touch it.’ I want people to feel like they’re being bad by touching and climbing on things and then realize they’re supposed to.

How does the installation evolve as people touch things, is it like a real park in that it changes according to the way people use it?
When I first made it there were things that were not very durable and every city I go to I have people make things that I put up.

Do you ever get feedback on the way you should change it or the things people want to see?
I’ve never had someone suggest what they want…but I wish they would. People have definitely made suggestions about usability.

I’ll be at the show on May 1 to shoot video for Indy.com. To give you an idea of what Quick’s work looks like, here’s a photo of an earlier installation of “Souvenirs and Shiny Things.”