BELFAST – Pink foam “ladders” waved in the sun and bounced lazily in the wind against the red brick backdrop of the Arts Center at Kingdom Falls.

The former Gov. Anderson School building was the setting for the installation by New York-based artist Danielle Dimston, who also has a show of her paintings and drawings, “My Hope, Your Desire,” in the Perimeter Gallery on Main Street through September.

The ladders are made of a light foam fabric called Foamulair and were constructed at the arts center with the help of two assistants. Dimston has installed her Ladder Project from buildings in Queens, N.Y., and a barn in rural New York. She also has installed a 6-inch ladder in a South American jungle.

“The Ladder Project twists in the wind like a DNA helix, like a scarf, like the arms of a sea creature,” Dimston said. “But I prefer to see it as a rescue mission that is both hopeful and hopeless. In wanting to be saved I have chosen a material that won’t hold the weight of my body. It does, however, hold the weight of my dreams.”

Dimston said she discovered Foamulair while walking through Home Depot one day. She began to work with it in her New York studio. When she dangled the material from her skylight, she was instantly captivated by its movement in the reflecting light.

Dimston, who is schooled in drawing and painting, said she never considered installation art until she began working with the foam.

“This is a real surprise to me, doing installation,” she said. “But I kind of see it as drawing in space. These really are lines, but they’re in space.”

Arts Center founder Al Crichton said the installation was an ideal piece to showcase the former school building. He said the work fits in with what the arts center wants to do within the community.

“We’ve been wanting to change the face of the building, to show there are ways to make this place a work of art in itself. It’s a new identity and a beginning of many more things like this I hope.”

The Arts Center at Kingdom Falls is located on High Street. Dimston’s show of paintings and drawings at the Perimeter Gallery, located at Chase’s Daily, 96 Main St., will run through Sept. 24. Gallery hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday. For information, call 338-0986.