The Clark’ s expansive grounds are home to Ground / work 2025, which includes Javier Senosiain’ s serpentine sculpture, Coata III. Teaching a Cow How to Draw by Analia Saban, bottom, was installed in 2020.( Olivia Douhan)
piano parts and toys; and Ricky Bernstein’ s Time on His Hands, a humorous look at domestic roles in wood, glass, aluminum, and mixed media objects. The consensus is that Rockwell, with his strong sense of humor that was often reflected in his illustrations, would be thrilled with this year’ s show that focuses on visual storytelling. Outdoor public trails behind the Clark Art Institute encourage you to view Ground / work 2025 in a way that feels intimate. Pieces are out of sight from one another, creating a private viewing of each and evoking the quiet and familiar feeling of the galleries in the Clark. Ground / work also will become part of the ecosystem.“ Birds might nest in these sculptures, and we don’ t keep that from happening,” says Kathleen Morris, Sylvia and Leonard Marx Director of Collections and Exhibitions and Curator of Decorative Arts. The outdoor element is intriguing to Ground / work’ s independent curator Glenn Adamson.“ I imagine someone on a night hike seeing the pieces with animals in the trees, their eyes shining green,” says Adamson, author, historian, and editor of Journal of Modern Craft.“ Coming across a sculpture unanticipated in nature without any other context has a magical effect. The distance between the pieces creates an experience very different from sculpture parks like Storm King or Art OMI.” Ground / work’ s theme is“ Global Conceptions of Craft” and includes the work of artists Yo Akiyama, Laura Ellen Bacon, Aboubakar Fofana, Hugh Hayden, Milena Naef, and Javier Senosiain, from cultures where there are no distinctions between art and craft.“ It’ s ridiculous when people ask if something is art or craft,” says Adamson.“ It’ s like asking is it craft or heavy or is it art or color.”
64 // BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE July 2025