Alnoba Outdoor Sculpture Park

Kensington, NH • alnoba.org • May 1–November 1, 2019 (check website for dates and hours)

Tucked in the woods of southeast New Hampshire, the Alnoba Outdoor Sculpture Park is something of a surprise. Alnoba, an Abenaki Indian term meaning “person,” is a retreat center owned by Alan and Harriet Lewis, philanthropists and longtime collectors of indigenous art who started collecting outdoor sculpture in the last ten years. A hint of what’s to see on the 400-acre property is represented by Bowie Dancer, a bright blue bronze by South African sculptor Beezy Bailey, dancing alongside the entrance to the park.

Pablo Atchugarry, Dance of Illusions, 2015, Carrara marble, 163 ½ x 76 ¾ x 33 ½”.
Courtesy of Alnoba Outdoor Sculpture Park.

The eclectic collection runs the gamut from playful figurative bronzes to site-specific installations. Along the path to the main campus, visitors can pick up a hand-carved walking stick from Deb Todd Wheeler’s Shelter Walking Path (each stick is engraved with inspirational quotes or poetry) and continue past Florian Wozniak’s Hard Drive (Monumental), a smooth bronze form of a man behind the wheel of an imaginary vehicle.

At the top of the hill is a 20-foot-tall totem pole carved by native artists Calvin Hunt and John Livingston depicting creatures such as a raven, killer whale, salmon and grizzly bear from the Northwest United States. Off to the left is a spiral steel form, Indeterminate Line by French conceptual artist Bernar Venet, and, nearby, the towering Up and Away, a playful banded steel installation by DeWitt Godfrey.

Alnoba’s installations beckon visitors to explore. Orly Genger’s Going, Going, Gone— undulating waves of recycled lobster rope—invites visitors to touch, sit or climb. Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto’s steel and wood sculpture, once located in front of Boston’s John Hancock Tower, sits just to the side of Genger’s installation. Hung with hammocks, it’s the perfect place to relax and gaze at the sky. In front of the retreat center, visitors can gather around Ice Ring and Radiant Table, a bronze table and seat by Michele Oka Doner, or ponder Dance of Illusions, a marble sculpture by Uruguayan artist Pablo Atchugarry that at once evokes fire, trees or a human figure. There are at least six more sculptures to see on the property as well as wooded trails to explore.