The Vermont Arts Council and the Vermont Department of Buildings and General Services invite the public to visit an exhibit of outdoor sculpture.
The Vermont Arts Council Sculpture Garden is located at 134-136 State Street in Montpelier, next door to the Capitol Region Visitors Center and is fully accessible. It offers a wonderful place to picnic or just for quiet reflection. Designed to enhance the outdoor facilities in the downtown Capitol Complex, the garden is a public/private collaboration that will contain rotating exhibits of contemporary sculpture created by VT artists.
The Sculpture Garden was designed by H. Keith Wagner and Associates, landscape architects from Burlington, VT and was completed in 2002 as a collaborative project between the VT Arts Council, the VT Film Commission, & the VT Department of Buildings and General Services.
Special thanks to David Schutz, Curator of State Buildings, Tess Taylor, Executive Director of the Vermont Granite Museum of Barre, & Michele Bailey, Director of grants programs at the VT Arts Council, for their work in selecting the artists & artwork being exhibited in the garden.
WILLARD BOEPPLE, North Bennington - "FOR JIM" (2001)
“I am an abstract sculptor & I want my sculpture to speak in a language of its own invention, create a reality of its own terms. A good sculpture gives us a glimpse of the world through a fresh eye. That being said, the Goldstone sculpture “FOR JIM” came to life in my mind’s eye the way that Jim moved. I tried to get into the sculpture a sense of his gentle, lanky grace – the way he walked or stood holding a glass. Remembering Jim, that is what I saw & what I miss seeing today.”
James Goldstone was a resident of Shaftsbury, a director & producer of film on large silver & small television screens, a co-founder & chair of the VT Film Commission & a trustee of the VT Arts Council. He died of cancer in the fall of 1999. The Goldstone Memorial is the only permanent work in the Sculpture Garden.
CHRIS CURTIS & TARI SWENSON, Stowe - “GLACIAL BENCH I & II” (2005)
Chris Curtis: "Much of my work addresses environmental issues, which are increasingly entwined with social & political policy. My hope is that these sculptures not only promote awareness & appreciation of the natural environment, but encourage reflection about how to best manage, preserve, & use our shared global resources." www.christophercurtis.com
Tari Swenson: "Words have been recorded for thousands of years to tell a story or give information to those coming along behind. Until the printing press, the letters & symbols have carried the mark of the writer along with them, linking the viewer to the writer. To me, hand–lettering allows this connection between people & adds a personal expression to the wording. The permanence of carving in stone underscores the importance of their message."
PATRICIA DE GOGORZA, Woodbury - “SWIMMING EVE” (1996)
"This sculpture is carved from West Rutland white marble. The stone was created when an ocean covered the western part of VT. Its origins were organic: accumulations of calcium dropping from aquatic plants & animals over millennia. Water subjects, such as mermaids, have emerged in works I have carved from this marble. (“Mermaid” & “Merman” on the Burlington Bike Path.) “SWIMMING EVE” is accompanied by two fish, & her feet are on the way to becoming fins.
“SWIMMING EVE” evokes one of my favorite sculptures: “Eve”, sculpted by Gislebertus, for the lintel of the north doorway at Autun Cathedral in Burgundy, France, (c. 1100 AD). This “Eve” moves horizontally, as if swimming through water, plucking an apple as she glides by the tree. Her expression & form conveys a rather fateful innocence & her harmony with nature. I have always found her beautiful & energizing in a unique way. This present Eve is peacefully swimming, basking in the sunlight, as if dreaming of the ancient oceans of VT."
NANCY DIEFENBACH, Danville - “MANDALA” (2004)
"The mandala, meaning “circle” in Sanskrit, is basically a representation of the universe sometimes used as an instrument of meditation in Hinduism & Buddhism. Similar ritual drawings can be found in the sand paintings of Native American culture. Research into the scribbles of young children finds the mandala with its circle & perpendicular lines as the beginning of deliberate shape-making everywhere in the world. The fossils in the black marble of Lake Champlain, as well as the inlay of rare red marble from northern VT, add to the mystery of the mandala I have created."
LYNN NEWCOMB, Worcester - “FORGED GRAFITTI 2” (2005)
“This sculpture is a playful tangent from the main body of my work. I became intrigued with the juxtaposition of the auto paint against the green of the natural environment.”
Lynn Newcomb works as a blacksmith/sculptor & as a printmaker. Her forge & print shop are located in Worcester, VT. In addition to working as a sculptor, Newcomb is also available for custom design work.
JUDITH WREND, Morrisville - “PENUMBRA” (2002)
"Kinetic Sculpture is a dance.
It is choreographed movement.
It is play.
It is the whimsy of the wind.
It is silent music.
It is meditative motion.
It is constant change.
This sculpture is a figure. Shadowy, ethereal, somehow beneficent, it contains a focused energy and dances in place."