Designing a museum sculpture garden: land, trees, artworks

I’m in the midst of constructing a sculpture garden and installing pieces at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT.

Work began in December 2008 when pines, cedars, hemlocks, and bamboo were transplanted from our Hogpen Hill Farms in Woodbury, CT to the Aldrich Museum garden. We’ve recontoured the land, moved some existing trees, and are now installing pieces.

Here is the newly installed Escaping Flatland on the afternoon after the big snowstorm in late February 2009. This complex artwork arrays 6 pieces consisting of 24 stainless steel plates (14,152kg, 31,200 lbs). Larkin’s Twig is nearby.

Below, this short HD video shows the process of museum installation of Escaping Flatland, constructed from 14,200 kg or 31,200 lbs of stainless steel arranged in 6 elements each with 4 plates of stainless. Compared to other installations, this was eerily quiet since Clovis, our crane expert, used his battery-operated crane (with a really big battery!) to move the plates around. Gone were the usual diesel smoke and engine roar.