Amphitheater highlights ‘everything is art’ attitude
Published by Press Publications, White Bear Lake, MN
July 14, 2009
by Kyle Weaver
The face of the Franconia Sculpture Park is ever-changing.
That’s why even in its outrageousness, the park’s recent transformation of a wide, flat weedy area into an amphitheater and stage area with rolling hills isn’t all that radical. In a 31-day marathon of construction, sculptors Ali Della Bitta and Drew Goerlitz last week completed the new amphitheater they designed and built.
“It’s amazing how much it’s changed,” Goerlitz said. “It was just a weedy field.”
The new amphitheater area features a roofed stage and a series of 30 granite benches culled from local sources that are built into the landscaping. The amphitheater area is framed and surrounded by rows of trees — sugar maples, tamarack pines and silver birches.From the back view, facing the stage, most of the benches are hidden by subtle mounds of earth.
“When you stand back here, it looks totally different than from up front,” said John Hock, co-founder and CEO of the sculpture park, during a recent interview.
That’s by design, Hock said, because the park is intended for a multitude of uses.
Hock said the amphitheater will become a centerpiece for the park’s larger annual events, such as its annual Hot Metal Pour art event or its annual concert festival, but the space should also should serve a functional, day to day purpose.
“It’s a gathering space when it’s not a performing space,” Goerlitz said.
The duality of the space’s functions played a role in its design, said Goerlitz and Della Bitta. The couple, who both teach art and sculpting at the State University of New York — Plattsburgh, won a bid to create the park addition.
The theme for the amphitheater was for it to be functional, yet to have a playful, child-like, “king-of-the-mountain idea” as illustrated by the earthen mounds, Della Bitta said.
The trees around the amphitheater, Della Bitta said, were planted in such a way as to create walls around the space once they grow in fully.
Della Bitta and Goerlitz said that while both of them have been sculptors for more than 10 years, they have never collaborated on any project on such a large scale.
“This is definitely our first big public collaboration,” Della Bitta said. “It’s exciting. It’s exhilarating.”
The couple was aware of the other finalists for the project and were happy to get the chance.
“The sculpture community is really small once you get into it,” DellaBitta said.
Though proud of their work, the artists intoned that they were looking forward to its completion and the 22-hour drive back to Plattsburgh, N.Y.
“As soon as they put the last nail in the roof, they’re gone,” Hock said.
Hock said the amphitheater area is part of a larger comprehensive landscaping and site plan for the park. Landscape architect Shane Coen, who helped design the Jackson Meadows subdivision in Marine on St. Croix, is the principal architect of the park plan.
With the slumping economy, Hock said, the sculpture park has been thinking of ways to increase revenue for the park, which is mostly funded through donations and grants. The amphitheater is one of those ideas — it is intended to be a space that can be used by groups, for weddings or parties, in addition to concerts and art shows.
“This will give us an opportunity to rent it out; it’s a little more formal” than before, Hock said.
Hock said the park is also looking into creating an artist designed mini golf course and wants to expand its musical offerings as well.
“We want to keep the music things more toward the hip, family-friendly stuff,” Hock said.
For more on the Franconia Sculpture Park visit the park’s Web site at http://www.franconia.org.
Source: https://www.presspubs.com/amphitheater-highlights-everything-is-art-attitude/article_d2c99602-e610-5591-af6b-5ec7db58c3ae.html