Franconia Scultpure Park
Thursday 18 September @ 13:06:39 |
 by Valerie Valentine
Franconia Sculpture Park delights, whether you stumble upon it or seek it out. Like the Walker’s Sculpture Garden, it’s an outdoor, rambling experience. However, Franconia is earthier, less groomed. In such a natural setting, these wild sculptures are doubly surreal.
The beginning of my love affair with the 16-acre exhibition happened one day on my way to Taylor’s Falls. While passing the pastures, out jumped a gargantuan clothesline with humongous white shirts billowing in the breeze. “What the hell was that?!”
"Like Father, Like Son" by Adam Walls
We braked, turned around, and discovered the whimsy of Franconia. The white-collar Paul Bunyan size shirts are no longer, but every year I go back for more. For 2003, some of the freshest compositions come from the young artist interns. The vernal minds of these twentysomethings have captured the heart of the Franconia.
Take, for example, “? Like Father, Like Son,” a steel sculpture by Adam Walls. The implications are fairly obvious, but nonetheless striking. The vibrantly painted non-camo camouflage doesn’t seek to hide its message. One military tank looms close to another tank of the same shape, only smaller. Violence breeds violence between generations. The orange might indicate desert lands; the big tank, Daddy Bush and the baby tank, G.W.
In a far corner of the park, the works blend into the landscape. “Conversations Between” by Kendra Hargens does indeed invoke dialogues involving itself, the earth and the other creations surrounding it. Her chunky yet graceful linear sculpture of found wood is cubistically inserted into mounds of dirt and field grass; it combines with the nearby “When Did We Change Our Horizons?” by Clair Churchouse and Robert Manchester. Their piece consists of dirt piles and clover, drawing on the sky and ground as artistic elements. This organic sculpting may be little more than landscaping work done by lawn architects, but in such a context, it especially compels one to appreciate that kind of labor.
Close to these works lurks a 2002 piece by intern artist Oceana Lawler-Larsen called “Perceiving the Undercurrent.” Incorporating steel, vines and willow, the artist created a heart-shaped shelter that merges into the tree line so that it’s nearly invisible. Unlike many of the other works that are brightly juxtaposed against the prairie, these mix with the environment and effectively bring one closer to the sublime in both art and the natural world.
There’s so much to encounter, it’s hard to fit it all into my little artbox space. But if you love crazy creativity and outdoor inspiration, check out Franconia. They’re having a party this Saturday—it’s worth the drive, and your buzzing mind will be glad you went.
Franconia’s Annual Gala, Art & Artist Celebration & Open Studios Day is Sat., Sept. 20, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. featuring poetry readings, puppetry performances, sculpture performance and more. From Minneapolis/Saint Paul take 35E or 35W North. Exit Highway 8/ Taylors Falls exit number 132. Franconia Sculpture Park is about 19 miles East on Highway 8 on the right side of the road. 29815 Unity Ave, Shafer, MN. 1-651-465-3701.
franconia.org.
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