The 2020 Sculptures

 

Relive the beauty of the 8 works featured on the inaugural New Canaan Sculpture Trail.

Click here for Thomas Berntsen's artist statement

Artist Interview

Passages at the Hannan-Eberstadt Preserve

“Passages”, featured seven translucent acrylic panels, each with different patterns and colors. The 10-foot tall panels were framed in steel, and provided visitors with an immersive experience as they led through the preserve’s meadow.

Artist: Thomas S. Berntsen
Location: Hannan-Eberstadt Preserve, corner of Smith Ridge and Canoe Hill Roads
Preserve Website: newcanaanlandtrust.org/hannan
Parking: There is a small pull-off on Canoe Hill Road, which can accommodate 3-4 cars.
Viewing/Access: Passages was placed along a mown path through the meadow. The path is accessible through an opening in the stone wall, at the northern side (Canoe Hill side) of the preserve.

basics #39 at the Colhoun Preserve

 

“basics #39” is part of a series of public art installations that explore the abstract notions of form, space, and utility. Created using a series of 2″x4″s, the piece was custom created to fit with the landscape and natural surroundings at the Colhoun Preserve.

Artist: Matthias Neumann
Location: Colhoun Preserve, across from 203 Davenport Ridge Road
Preserve Website: newcanaanlandtrust.org/colhoun
Parking: The Colhoun Preserve has a gravel parking area at the entrance, located through the stone wall and wooden gate.
Viewing/Access: This piece was installed in the meadow at the front of the Colhoun Preserve and was visible from the parking area.

Click here for Matthias Neumann's artist statement

Artist Interview

Click here for Chris Kaczmarek's artist statement

Artist Interview

Labyrinth at the Watson-Symington Preserve

 

“Labyrinth” is the only permanent installation on the New Canaan Sculpture Trail, and features a series of winding paths, delineated by hundreds of hand-placed stones. Created from material found on-site, the piece is a stark contrast the linear, historic stone walls found criss-crossing the surrounding woodlands.

Artist: Christopher Kaczmarek
Location: Watson-Symington Preserve, across from 110 Wellesley Drive, New Canaan
Preserve Website: newcanaanlandtrust.org/watson-symington
Parking: Ample parking is available at the main entrance to the preserve, on Wellesley Drive
Viewing/Access: The installation is located towards the northern edge of the property. Once at the preserve’s trailhead, a map and accompanying signage will guide you to the installation.

After Alex-1/14 at New Canaan Town Hall

 

This larger-than-life kinetic sculpture is an homage to Alexander Calder, best known for his innovative mobile pieces. It consists of a series of stainless steel globes, each perfectly balanced and reflecting the beauty of the surrounding environment.

Artist: Gilbert Boro
Location: New Canaan Town Hall, 77 Main Street, New Canaan
Preserve Website: N/A
Parking: Ample parking is available at town hall and on Main Street
Viewing/Access: The installation is located on the front lawn of the New Canaan Town hall

Click here for Gilbert Boro's artist statement

Click here for Anthony Heinz-May's artist statement

Artist Interview

Ashen at the Carriage Barn

 

“Ashen” was created specifically for the New Canaan Sculpture Trail, and used a local ash tree that recently succumbed to the invasive emerald ash borer. After carefully cutting the tree, the artist created small wooden blocks that were carefully reassembled in a pixilated, puzzle-like form, and reattached to the original tree trunk.

Artist: Anthony Heinz May
Location: Carriage Barn Arts Center, in Waveny Park
CBAC Website: More details available at: carriagebarn.org
Parking: Ample parking is available at the Carriage Barn or surrounding Waveny Park lots.
Viewing/Access: This sculpture was installed in the Carriage Barn’s front courtyard.

Sugar Maple at the Livingston-Higley Preserve

 

Officially titled “Mecanitex – Sugar Maple”, this piece is intended to be a stylized, abstract representation of one of New England’s most iconic trees; the sugar maple. Constructed using composite materials and steel hardware, the 10-foot tall piece was a stark contrast to the surrounding trees (including some sugar maples).

Artist: Carlos Davila
Location: Livingston-Higley Preserve, at the end of Apple Tree Lane, New Canaan
Preserve Website: newcanaanlandtrust.org/livingston-higley
Parking: Ample parking is available at the main entrance to the preserve, at the end of Apple Tree Lane
Viewing/Access: The installation was located in the main meadow of the Preserve. From the trailhead, follow the path for approximately half a mile until you reach the meadow.

Click here for Carlos Davila's artist statement

Artist Interview

Click here for Joe Chirchirillo's artist statement

Artist Interview

Ring Tower at the Still Pond Preserve

 

This series of connected rings and posts soars to create a twelve-foot tall tower. The pieces is supported with a rebar frame and coated with pigmented ferro-cement, providing a rugged, yet natural appearance.

Artist: Joe Chirchirillo
Location: Silvermine-Fowler entrance to the Still Pond Preserve, 763 Silvermine Road, New Canaan
Preserve Website: newcanaanlandtrust.org/stillpond
Parking: Ample parking is available at the main entrance to the preserve, at the base of the driveway for 763 Silvermine Road
Viewing/Access: The installation was located near Still Pond and the newly planted Silvermine-Fowler Meadow. From the trailhead, follow the path for approximately a quarter mile until you reach the pond and meadow.

Bloom at the GreenLink Trail

 

This site-specific installation celebrates the blossoming and undulating patterns in nature. It is created by wrapping colorful flagging tape around acrylic panels, and is sure to catch the attention of any passers-by.

Artist: Elizabeth Knowles and William Thielen
Location: GreenLink Trail, between the New Canaan Nature Center and Irwin Park
Preserve Website: newcanaanlandtrust.org/greenlink
Parking: Ample parking is available at either entrance to the GreenLink Trail; at either the New Canaan Nature Center or at Irwin Park.
Viewing/Access: The installation was located in the woods along the GreenLink Trail. Follow the trail from either entrance; you can’t miss it.

Click here for Elizabeth & William's artist statement

Artist Interview

Barb wire has a dark history, a symbol of dominance and power. It facilitated expansion into the American West, controlling cattle and land appropriated from indigenous people. Barb wire controls and establishes ownership. It protects land, buildings and factories from numerous threats, increasing the wealth of the few. Barb wire imprisons people, a symbol of law and order. It restrains movement. Remembering the heartbreaking images of people in concentration camps both in Europe and the American West bring us to tears and shame.

Barb Wire Fence’s size and scale send an aggressively pointed message. Its preposterously large scale attract attention. It is installed on a borderline between public and private land establishing a separation of what is collectively “ours” and “mine.” It divides and separates us from each other. Perhaps it may give a sense of security. Do fences really make for good neighbors or does it provide a convenient excuse to stay cloaked and closeted in our privileged righteousness? Do we really own this land or are we merely steward? Nevertheless, it is my hope Barb Wire Fence, even imbued by its imposing presence, convey to the observer a sense of beauty.

Over the past 5 years, I have been engaged with a series of public interventions under the title “basics,” exploring an abstracted notion of form, space, and utility in temporary public sculpture. While all individual pieces within this series are unique and specific to their site, they share a material and formal language that is derived from the use of 2’ by 4’ dimensional wood. The work wants to be experienced as a temporary spatial and sculptural intervention in dialogue with its environment. Initially conceived as part of a larger museum installation at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Bucharest, Romania, the series has since had a substantial number of iterations throughout the U.S.

A labyrinth is not a maze, nor a puzzle to be solved. It is not intended to trick you or challenge you with vexation, but it is a singular path to be traveled. One followed by choice.  One where the destination is the journey, and time and space for contemplation the purpose.

A labyrinth is a line, often considered as a line convoluted, with compounded twists and turns.  The very word labyrinthine is a term to describe that which is complicated and intricate. But at its core, at the heart of it, a labyrinth is just a line.  One without distractions, one without choices and options.  It is a singular line to follow.  One that is chosen by the walker, not forced upon them.  The invitation to walk a labyrinth is just that, an invitation.  It is not a demand, or even a request, it is an option. One chosen when you feel the need, the pull, the desire. The desire to take on a path, or a pilgrimage.  The desire to take a moment to both focus and expand your attentions.

For some, it is a chance to set out with an intention, a question. For most, it works best when you don’t try to answer that question, but just walk with the question, and see how it changes, and reveals more of itself, with each footstep.

Please consider, and accept, if you so wish, this invitation.  This invitation to all who feel the need, pull or aspiration to undertake walking this labyrinth, and to do so with appreciation and gratitude to all who join, have joined, or will join, the path we share together.

Inspired by the works of Alexander Calder, this hanging kinetic, mirror-finished sculpture revolves and reflects the beauty of its surrounding environment and passersby. The artist invites the viewer into the work. No longer a detached observer, one feels like a child again, wanting to climb, hold, enter, and remain inside the spheres. These sturdy, open, touchable forms are calming and protective but never constricting.

Ashen is a gray tonal representation of natural decomposition.  Something shared with most all life sources on Earth.  Human hair, decaying leaves, once-fruitful landscapes now covered in concrete and industrial structures are all examples of processes involving entropy.  Both natural and unnatural objects undergo this tonal degradation.

The Ash tree has many varieties, which are subject to the same life cycles that affect all living things.  Insects, storms and ecological competition affect the success rate of Ash, like all woody vegetation.  Much can be learned from trees and forested landscapes inasmuch society defines progress through the severing of human ties with nature except to be exhausted as a resource for monetary or fiscal economy.

My work explores how modern technological advancement and embrace of planned obsolescence leads human departure from all natural essence of being.  I explore the natural being in process of collapse, to be replaced by artificiality through physical fragmentation of dead/dying trees.  The environmental structures appear pixelated as if through digital rendering and are puzzle-like, similar to games that help youth acquire worlds around them.  These works are about past/present/future of natural sustainability on Earth and how the grid affects the all-important presence of nature.

The concept behind this sculpture, Sugar Maple, is of an abstracted, contemporary tree. Inspired by Nature, this tree does not compete with natural trees, but acts as a modern complement, standing with a bold contrast of color. This sculpture celebrates nature while making a bold and joyful visual statement of strength, resilience, and growth.

The articulated forms at the top of the sculpture are reminiscent of the twists and turns that branches take as they grow. Sugar Maple is constructed of a highly engineered marine wood composite, designed to withstand the elements while paying tribute to the forest from which it came. The sculpture offers a different view from every direction, the profile changes as you walk around it.

I am drawn to working with bold colors, and strong geometric shapes, and like many of the works I create, this sculpture embodies both of these elements. The deep saturated color of Sugar Maple is the perfect foil for Nature’s many shades of green. The leaves of a maple tree turn a glorious, exuberant, blazing red each fall with the change of the season, and the color of this sculpture is intentionally chosen to rejoice in that transformation.

Ring Tower embodies a conceptual theme of finding architectural order emerging from nature. I have been working on these ideas for most of my career.

This sculpture is about the power of circles in nature and in man-made objects. Circles are the most essential shape in the mechanical world, being the core element of wheels, gears, and bearings. This work attempts to bring natural forms and human mechanisms into a conversation with each other.

I build sculpture with a degree of uncertainty and spontaneity. I am very process-oriented, and these pieces grow and evolve as I continue to work on them.

This is a Ferro cement sculpture; the process involves bending and welding rebar into a sturdy armature. This is then wrapped with wire lathe and attached to the armature with tie wire. The piece is then coated with pigmented mortar.

Bloom is a site-specific installation celebrating the blossoming and undulating patterns in nature.

Consisting of a circular central portion of colorful spiral-shaped “blossoms” surrounded by curved arch curved “petals,” Bloom collaborates with the environmental setting in shape and size, ascending and descending in an undulating rhythm mirroring the organic tempo of the landscape.

The arch-shaped “petals” rhythmically lead a pathway up to the colorful center of the “blossoms.”

The “petals” and “blossoms” are attached with long garden staples placed directly into the earth. Responding to the texture, movement, and contour of the precise environmental setting, Bloom creates an endless possibility of color, form, and fusion.