Page 27 - Reside Magazine Briggs Freeman

Reside — Fall 2025

“ T raditionally, the job of sculpture in a garden or landscape has

been as an eyecatcher: picture an imposing classical statue at
the end of an allée of trees in an ancestral estate, or a simpler
SCULPTURE piece, offering a solid conclusion to a path between two flower
beds or hedges.
Sculpture brings a sense of permanence and timelessness
GROWS IN THE to a garden. It looks on, unchanging, at its surroundings, from the first snowdrops
in January, through the burst of spring and summer color, to the frosted rime
OPEN LIGHT A sculpture that seems to float on a stretch of tranquil, dark water, enclosed
on the withered stems of December. But it does more: it is looked on, too.
AND WITH THE by greenery, can lower the blood pressure as you gaze at it, while a bright bed
of tulips reflected in a highly polished piece can lift the spirits.
MOVEMENT that reopened in May, showcases the work of some of the world’s finest sculptors
Storm King Art Center, the outdoor museum in New York’s Hudson Valley
OF THE SUN across its 500 acres. Visitors can experience large-scale work by artists including
” of art can be seen to their best advantage.
Carl Andre, Louise Bourgeois and Alexander Calder and appreciate, from the
location of sculptures among these hills, fields and woods, how important pieces

Here, Andy Goldsworthy’s “Storm King Wall,” 1997–98, a 2,278-foot
dry-stone wall made the traditional way without mortar, takes a winding path
through woodland, descending into a pond and emerging the other side to
continue its snaking course; a work of great beauty.
On a more domestic scale, The Hannah
Peschar Sculpture Garden sits in the grounds of
a 15th-century cottage just an hour outside
London. Established in the 1980s, the garden’s
mature trees and ponds, fringed with bold
architectural plants, form the backdrop for an
annual exhibition of works by more than 50
sculptors. Each piece is carefully sited to take
advantage of the sun or dappled shade, and
visitors are given a photographic guide
and suggested route, though the directions (and
opening times) are idiosyncratically British.
Curator Vikki Leedham oversees hundreds
of sculptures here every year and aims for
a synergy between the art and its surroundings.
She has practical suggestions for introducing
sculpture to your own garden—but only

Previous page: Samuel Salcedo’s “Gouttes
de Pluie,” 2016, at Les Jardins
d’Etretat in Normandy
Opposite: Ellsworth Kelly’s “Untitled,”
1982, at Storm King Art Center in
Mountainville, New York
Left: “Sound Architecture 5,” 2014, by
Ronald van der Meijs at The Hannah Peschar
Sculpture Garden in Surrey, England

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