“When we opened the new wing in 2011, the garden was intended for rotating exhibition space,” says Todd Rivers, the museum’s director of exhibitions, who supervised the project. “We would have an exhibition and acquire one of the pieces, and it would stay in its location. Then we would have another exhibition, and we would acquire a piece from it.” Eventually, as the museum acquired more and more sculptures, the collection began to compete for space originally intended for temporary installations. Most recently, the sculpture garden featured three distinct works purchased over the years. “Terra Verte #1,” by Scottish environmental artist Patricia Leighton, is a stainless-steel “growing cube” that encases delicate, living sedum plants as it combines geometric structures and organic forms. “Tide,” by Icelandic sculptor Steinunn Thorarinsdottir, is an androgynous, life-sized cast-iron human figure with a glass band inlay across its left arm. “Andreas,” by American sculptor Jane Manus, is a tall, abstract work of welded aluminum painted bright blue. The three sculptures were deinstalled and moved into storage until the museum can find new locations for their installation. Soon after, Athens-based objects and sculpture conservator Amy Jones Abbe returned to the museum for an annual assessment of outdoor artworks. Abbe was recently highlighted in the New York Times for her extensive restoration of the famed “Iron Horse,” a 2-ton abstract modern sculpture by Abbott Pattison that’s been returned to its former glory after enduring exposure and multiple incidents of vandalism over the last 70 years. In addition to the three sculptures recently removed from the garden,
Ruppert Landscape replaced an invasive species of liriope with a native variety.
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