“ We encourage visitors to engage with the artwork, discovering the different ways they evoke movement,” says Jacqueline Christensen, Assistant Director of Programs who is overseeing the outdoor show. Sculpture at the Mount replaced SculptureNow, an annual exhibit founded by sculptor Ann Jon and held at The Mount until 2023. A retrospective of Jon’ s work will be on view at Chesterwood’ s Woodshed Gallery in August and September. Like The Mount, Chesterwood in Stockbridge was also the home of an extraordinary artist who sculpted the Minute Man in Concord, Massachusetts, and the monumental Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D. C. Daniel Chester French built his summer home and studio in 1901 and 1898, respectively. He also created Chesterwood’ s landscape, including English gardens and woodland paths, where Chesterwood Contemporary Sculpture Show has been held since 1978.
The seeds for this year’ s show, Global Warming, Global Warning, were planted in 2020, when a tree that was supporting a piece of artwork had fallen. Michael Lynch, this year’ s guest curator, says,“ I realized it wasn ' t just the art that was fragile; it was the forest itself.” The exhibition features six environmental artists. Kathleen Jacobs wraps tree trunks with colorful fabrics that stand out. Natalie Tyler premieres Tornado, a whirling glass sculpture nine feet tall and 400 pounds. Olympus by Harold Grinspoon comprises tall poles and steel spheres whose installation was so labor intensive that it’ s staying for two years. French, an inveterate tinkerer in the garden, modeled many of his 100-plus public sculptures at his studio on the property.“ I think he would love to see contemporary art forms integrated with the campus,” says Executive Director Miguel Rodriguez, who wants Chesterwood to lose the label“ hidden gem.” The large, colorful sculptures in this year’ s show will see to that. On the opposite side of the county is MASS MoCA, where everything is about being BIG— big buildings, big gallery spaces, big exhibitions, big music festivals, and so on. Its outdoor sculptures are no exception. MASS MoCA’ s Big Bling sits tall and proud in downtown North Adams. Part animal, part abstract art, part intellectual meditation, Martin Puryear’ s 40-foot-tall piece is built of wood and chain link fence with a golden shackle at its pinnacle. It’ s a lot to unwrap, but there’ s time, because it’ s on long-term( five year) loan,
A handful of the many outdoor sculptures at TurnPark Art Space in West Stockbridge, from top, Bohr and Einstein, Vladimir Lemport; Don Quixote, Nicholai Silis; Baseball Players, Konstantin Simun; When We Come Home, Maidibor and Luna Go; and Talus Gate, Gene Montez Flores.
Holiday August July 2025 2023 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // 69