A Walk in the Park
Alicja Kwade, TunnelTeller (installation view of work in progress), 2018, stainless steel, concrete, natural stone (Macauba azul). Site specific installation by Alicja Kwade for The Trustees’ Castle Hill on the Crane Estate. © Alicja Kwade, courtesy Winslow Townson Photography.
From the marble-strewn fields of Olympia, Greece, and the ruins of the Roman Forum to the well-known sculpture parks of Chesterwood, the deCordova Museum and Saint-Gaudens, the fascination of form in landscape entices and enchants. Light and space offer unexpected perspectives on the viewing experience. In a unique combination of park and gallery, sculpture becomes more accessible, less formal and invites interaction.
“Sculpture park” is a generous term that encompasses a wide variety of offerings. Although the word “park” conjures up a large green space, there are also parks that flow through a city, town or waterfront. The following tour through some of New England’s treasures is certain to expand the experience of summer adventure.
Massachusetts
Marko Remec’s Monodic Flow, Hancock Shaker Village, MA. Courtesy of Marko Remec.
The Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston is a ribbon of green that cuts through the city and offers punctuations of rotating, contemporary sculptural works in a “people’s park.” In a similar vein, Somerby’s Landing Sculpture Park in Newburyport, located along the Merrimack River boardwalk, features works by well-known artists Rick Rothrock, Robert Motes and Gillian Christy.
The Harborwalk, also in Boston, includes sculptures at various sites around the city’s waterfront. The Boston Harbor Shipyard & Marina, one of the stops on the Harborwalk, hosts HarborArts, a sculpture park in its own right, with inventive large-scale works sited imaginatively throughout the historic shipyard. The ICA is locating its cross-harbor Watershed Project (see page 78) in a former copper pipe factory at the shipyard, adding even more diversity to this unique industrial space.
SculptureNow and The Mount are collaborating to present SculptureNow at The Mount, 2018, a new juried exhibition featuring 30 large-scale outdoor sculptures placed throughout the grounds of The Mount, Edith Wharton’s historic home, in Lenox, MA. Work by world-renowned artists William Anastasi and Dove Bradshaw add to the allure of art sited throughout the formal gardens, and make for a distinctive mix of past and present.
Also in the Berkshires, Hancock Shaker Village, founded in 1783 as a utopian community, is presenting New York-based conceptual sculptor Marko Remec’s Monodic Flow, an installation that cascades down a hillside and is composed of more than 160 convex dome mirrors, 32 inches each, stretching over 200 feet. Last year, Maya Lin, sculptor/architect of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, created The Upper Reaches by using glass pieces that move over floors and up walls to give the feeling that water is an alive force in motion.
The Art & the Landscape public art initiative, funded by the Trustees of Reservations and curated by Pedro Alonzo, sponsors art in historical and natural contexts. This year, Polish-born artist Alicja Kwade is presenting her first large-scale installation in the U.S. at Castle Hill on the Crane Estate in Ipswich. The installation, TunnelTeller, is an innovative reinterpretation of the former hedge maze that was once located on Castle Hill during the time that the Crane family lived there.
Connecticut
Seward Johnson, Waiting to Cross, 1986, bronze, 8’5″ tall (stop sign), 4′ tall (girl), 3′ wide. Life in Simsbury: A Public Art Trail, Simsbury, CT.
© The Seward Johnson Atelier, Inc.
Sculpture walks have become an easily accessible way to experience sculpture. The town of Simsbury is initiating Life in Simsbury: A Public Art Trail featuring the works of Seward Johnson. Johnson’s figurative bronze sculptures speak to the life of the town—a mailman, golfer, musician, gardener, child with a hula hoop. They are part of the Celebrating the Familiar series that presents art in a non-elitist atmosphere.
Washington Depot, a mecca for artists, is hosting the WAA Sculpture Walk 2018 with an impressive roster of national and international artists such as Julian Schnabel, Caio Fonseca, Wendell Castle and a variety of other sculptors who work in the traditional media of steel, stone, wood and mixed media. There are conceptual and site-specific installations, kinetic pieces, figurative works and large gestural works throughout the historic town.
New Hampshire
Continuing in the genre of sculpture placed within an existing environment, the fifth annual Meredith Sculpture Walk features both abstract and figurative work that flows throughout the picturesque town and along the Lake Winnipesaukee shorefront park. New Hampshire is also carrying on the tradition of creating sculpture using the symposium model. Sculpture symposia originated in Europe in 1959 with Carl Prantl who gathered eight sculptors in St. Margarethen, Austria, to create monumental work that became the basis of a permanent sculpture park. In a symposium, sculptors traditionally live together and work in public and are willing to answer questions and demonstrate techniques. The movement caught fire worldwide with symposia organized throughout Europe, Asia, India, Australia and the U.S., thereby giving birth to a plethora of sculpture parks.
Nashua is the only city in the U.S. with an annual international sculpture symposium (now celebrating its eleventh year). The 2018 Nashua International Sculpture Symposium’s theme was “Harmony” (it closed June 2), and the sculptures created will join Nashua’s growing public art collection. Sculptor John Weidman was the symposium director and is the co-founder of the Andres Institute of Art in Brookline, NH, which has sponsored numerous symposia of its own and has created the Andres Sculpture Park, New England’s largest outdoor sculpture park, which stretches along multiple trails.
Vermont
Rick Rothrock, Petitus Fugo, 2013, granite, marble, 8½ x 6 x 2‘. Photo: Sue Rothrock. Marble Street Sculpture Park, Vermont. In background, Hector Santos, Jones, 2001, marble, slate, copper.
Marble Street Sculpture Park, initiated during the 1991 Vermont Bicentennial Sculpture Symposium, is situated amidst the historic quarries of West Rutland. The Carving Studio and Sculpture Center, which owns and curates the park, has added works of regional, national and international sculptors through subsequent symposia and its annual SculptFest. The 2018 SculptFest theme is “interdependence” and is curated by artist and architectural designer Alisa Dworsky. The West Rutland Art Park, a few miles away, is an offshoot of the sculptural energy generated by the Carving Studio. Sculptures in stone, steel and mixed media flow through the rolling landscape.
In the tradition of David Smith’s sculpture fields in Bolton Landing, NY, David Stromeyer, a sculptor in steel, has established Cold Hollow Sculpture Park on a 200-acre property in Enosburg Falls. His colorful creations sometimes echo dance movements and span his 40-year career. Lemon Fair Sculpture Park in Shoreham is named for the stream that cuts through the property. Currently it features sculptures by well-known Vermont artists Chris Curtis, Dennis Versweyveld and Peter Lundberg, among others from around the country. Because of its proximity to Lake Champlain, Lemon Fair boasts light that continually changes and plays magically on the varied forms of steel, titanium and stone that are situated along the mile-long circular path.
David Stromeyer, Arpeggio in 9/8ß, 2015, painted steel, 16 x 11 x 12′. Cold Hollow Sculpture Park, VT. Photo: David Stromeyer.
Maine
June LaCombe of Hawk Ridge Farm in Pownal featured (through June 28) the work of recently deceased Gary Haven Smith, a well-known and beloved New England sculptor. Her 2018 season includes signature work by 25 other artists. LaCombe, who has dedicated her life to sculpture and sculptors, is also curating a bronze exhibit, Transformation, for the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, through October 14.
Rhode Island
Four Corners Arts Center in Tiverton features the work of sculptor Joe Wheelwright, who transformed granite boulders into serious and whimsical characters that seem to ask existential questions. Wendy Klemperer’s Calling Elk is a perennial favorite with visitors and was purchased in memory of James Weir, founder of the arts center.
An unexpected delight is the Green Animals Topiary Garden in Portsmouth. Its seven acres are home to the oldest topiary collection in the U.S. Enchanting animals, birds, geometric figures and ornamental designs are sculpted using practices that began in Renaissance Europe. Complete with a breathtaking view of Narragansett Bay, this garden appeals to the child in each of us. It’s a perfect example of how sculpture sited in landscape can change our perception of the world around us and can open us, in the flash of a second, to a new and inviting reality.
B. Amore is an internationally exhibiting artist and writer. Her reviews appear in Art New England, Sculpture magazine, VIA, the Rutland Herald/Times Argus, among other publications.
Rose Kennedy Greenway
Boston, MA, rosekennedygreenway.org
Somerby’s Landing
Sculpture Park
Newburyport, MA, somerbyslandingsculpturepark.org
HarborArts
East Boston, MA, harborartsboston.com
2018 SculptureNow
The Mount, Lenox, MA, edithwharton.org, Through October 31, 2018
Marko Remec: Monodic Flow
Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield, MA, hancockshakervillage.org, Through November 12, 2018
Alicja Kwade: TunnelTeller
Crane Estate, Ipswich, MA, thetrustees.org, Through April 2019
Simsbury Art Trail: Works by Seward Johnson
Simsbury, CT, simsburyarttrail.com, Through September 15, 2018
WAA Sculpture Walk 2018
Washington Depot, CT, washingtonartassociation.org, Through November 1, 2018
Meredith Sculpture Walk
Meredith, NH, greatermeredithprogram.com, Through May 2019
The Nashua International Sculpture Symposium
Nashua, NH, nashuasculpturesymposium.org
Andres Institute of Art
Brookline, NH, andresinstitute.org
SculptFest 2018
Marble Street Sculpture Park, The Carving Studio & Sculpture Center, West Rutland, VT, carvingstudio.org, September 8–October 21, 2018
The West Rutland Art Park
West Rutland, VT, facebook.com/West-Rutland-Art-Park-495375903870225
Cold Hollow Sculpture Park
Enosburg Falls, VT, coldhollowsculpturepark.com, Through October 8, 2018
Lemon Fair Sculpture Park
Shoreham, VT, lemonfairsculpturepark.com, Through November 1, 2018
Hawk Ridge Farm
Pownal, ME, junelacombesculpture.com, By appointment
Four Corners Arts Center
Tiverton, RI, fourcornersarts.org
Green Animals Topiary Garden
Portsmouth, RI, newportmansions.org