Students may hear interesting sounds when walking in front of Sloan Hall this week.

But it’s no accident – a local artist and about a dozen of her friends spent Sunday evening transforming a tree in front of the building into a musical piece of art.

Mount Pleasant resident and Central Michigan University alumna Ingrid Tourangeau and her friends spent the day hanging hundreds of bells in a tree in front of Sloan Hall.

“We wanted to string thousands so the tree would sing,” Tourangeau said. “It sounds like fairies are in the tree.”

Tourangeau said she has had the idea since the beginning of summer, and said the idea was influenced by Gordon Matta-Clark’s art piece, “Tree Dance.”

The tree will be part of Tourangeau’s art display called “Housewarming,” which will be presented at the Art Reach Gift Shop and Gallery, 111 E. Broadway St., until Aug. 29. The opening reception for her work will be at 5 p.m. Thursday.

“It’ll be nice to walk underneath and hear bells ringing,” said Mount Pleasant resident Andrew Dunn, who helped put the bells up. “It’s a beautiful tree, it deserves to be noticed.” Dunn said people walking by the tree may not realize where the sounds are coming from, since the bells appear to be very subtle. He said the exhibit lasts one month, and then they will take the bells down.

“The sound is the coolest part,” Dunn said. “Hearing bells will cheer people up. I’d be cheered up if I was walking by.”

Mount Pleasant resident Dave Musser connected the bells to the strands in various different ways.

Stevenson Lake resident Jolene Klumpp also helped hang the bells. Klumpp took art classes with Tourangeau when she taught at Mid Michigan Community College, 5805 E. Pickard Road. She said she loved having Tourangeau as an art teacher.

“The students loved her,” she said. “She got me out of the box with art and creativity.”

Mount Pleasant resident Sarah McBryde shot a video of the tree decoration for Art Reach.

“I think it will be interesting to see people’s reactions,” she said.

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E-mail the author: Joe Borlik