4. FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK | Go big or go home
Imagine you are standing on a 360 porch watching the lightning roll in and a mid western American beetle slams into the frizz of your hair, vibrating and buzzing. The sky lights up in big bands of moody lighting, laying itself on a metal sculpture seemingly as tall as the sky itself. Everything is measurable by the sky.
The start of my sculpture Getting Fresh:
Franconia Sculpture Park in America was the first time I’d met a bunch of creatives who said go big or go home. Make anything you want but remember not to limit yourself because that’s for weenies. Ughhh all the people were so fantastic. I think being amongst that kind of community is essential in your early twenties because it shifts the focus from monetary currency to a different set of values where respect is given in exchange for having chutzpah. Welcome to a world of unlimited imagination. It is a luxury to take the time to spend three months living in a sculpture park and it’s worth it. I wish it wasn’t inaccessible to some or seen as so bonkers. The further away I get from that experience the more valuable it becomes to me and it already meant a lot at the time.
I was lucky enough to be a part of a small group completing a three month fellowship against the dramatic terrain of the mid west seasons. We had mud fights in raging storms, we swam the hot hot heat away in rivers, drank half and half in our cups of joe, drank beers, drank whisky at dance parties next to raging bonfires. We worked hard tending to the park in return for our board and we made a lot of ambitious art. There was always an air of carnal fun about. Ever heard the phrase making art and breaking hearts? I broke my own finger hitting it with a piece of metal and was scared of how much an American XRAY cost. Sometimes we welded at midnight in the dark. Other times we’d sit under the stars and have a beer on the sculpture that was half a giant house sticking out the ground. We’d sell hot dogs out of a hatch in a giant dinosaur. I once found myself dancing in the Twin Cities with strangers dressed in YMCA outfits on a concrete bridge over a freeway as the sun came up, stone cold sober.
There was a sculpture in the park made out of gun ammunition, and all the children knew what those casings were. I had discussed with my peers who were teachers how they had to do regular shooting evacuation training at work.
As usual I went there not knowing what I was going to create with absolutely no pre-planning and also having never been to America before. I just knew I wanted it to be metal and I wanted it to be BIG. I was grieving in my personal life so I ended up making something celebratory called Getting Fresh. That tends to be my creative pattern, if I’m feeling negative I tend to make positive art and vice versa. Some of the darker pieces I’ve made remain saved on my desktop and I’ve made them at the happiest times of my life. Freud would probably have something to say about it. I found out later a couple had their wedding photos in front of my sculpture and felt honoured. It makes me laugh that now I would find my welding SHOCKING on that piece but you gotta start somewhere kid. I wish I made demure and sophisticated art but my ideas just don’t come out my brain like that for now. I have a sneaky feeling if I could make all of the million billion ideas I have with no time, spatial or money limitations then it may evolve into something quite different!
I always tussle between arts’ purpose too, is art useless if it isn’t political or representative of the times? Can it just be fun? Can it just be?
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Getting Fresh, 2012 Made at Franconica Sculpture Park
Getting Fresh, 2012 Made at Franconica Sculpture Park
I’d love to share more photos of the whole three months but I can’t bear firing up my old laptop for five million hours to get them off + some things are sacred, best kept off the world wide web.
I’m extremely excited for July 2024 as I will be doing a two week residency at The Cyprus College of Art and I have a feeling its going to be another very magical experience. I can’t wait to get making and once again be amongst an art community.
Ciao for now x
【ｒｅｃｏｍ ｍｅｎｄａｔｉｏｎｓ】
The Timeless, Ancient Language of Art | Wangechi Mutu | TED
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