BROOKLINE — In the woods behind the market at Allandale Farm, a pair of wood nymphs has fallen asleep under a floating blanket. Their heads, made of wet, red clay, rise like burls from a couple of fallen trees. The blanket, a net of colorful ceramic tiles, has been strung at a tilt in front of the pair. This is “Window Pane Quilt,’’ a sculptural installation by Valorie Sheehan, one of 16 outdoor sculptures amid the hay bales and forest in “Agriculture Encounters Sculpture,’’ a new exhibit at Boston’s only major commercial farm.
Art blossoms on the farm
Hay bales and woods provide backdrop for sculpture
It’s hard to find the right sightline to glimpse the couple under the covers — the quilt acts more like a screen than a comforter — but I still had the half-uneasy, half-delighted feeling that I’d stumbled over something private when I came across it.
The pleasure of discovery is one of the bonuses of a well-organized outdoor sculpture show; you never know what you’ll find next, camouflaged among the leaves or dug into the soil. The Allandale exhibit is a thoughtful, earthy show put together by Allison Newsome, featuring a cadre of artists who have impressive academic and artistic credentials and a handful of their students. It’s deeply rooted in agrarian and environmental themes.
The artists are here at the invitation of the farm’s general manager, John Lee, a tan and wiry fellow with a mustache and a baseball hat. “It’s an idea I’ve had floating around in the back of my head for a few years,’’ he said. “It’s a fairly unique location, and an opportunity to do something creative.’’
All 16 works are situated around the pond behind the market and in the woods beyond. In the seven weeks of the exhibit, they’ll be subject to the elements, so Sheehan’s earthen lovers may degrade, although Newsome, also a ceramicist, says that wet clay can stand up better to rain and wind than fired clay does.
Michael Barsanti’s “Theaters of Human Demise,’’ from his “Bird Bath Series,’’ is intended to dissolve. He has placed a rutted, knobby block of clay in a birdbath, expecting it to self-destruct over time. But he has seeded it with smaller elements that will better withstand the weather. Tiny houses sit atop it, some already toppled, and rye seeds have been planted within it, and they may sprout. The piece sees human dreams of permanence as folly, but still holds hope for rye seeds.
In the pond nearby floats Ellen Dris coll’s “Still Life,’’ a pale, intricate landscape construction made from plastic water bottles — a ghostly island. A pair of binoculars would help to see all its details, which include a tower of Babel and an oil rig. Placing a construction of water bottles, which often end up in a landfill, in this idyllic setting is sobering irony.
Advertisement
Advertisement