Fruitlands Museum to Debut 'Art in Nature' Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition

Fruitlands's Art in Nature exhibition has turned the hillsides and meadows of the museum's vast campus into a sculpture garden for the season. Twenty large-scale sculptures created by 14 New England artists are on view now through November 1. A remarkable interplay between contemporary art and nature, this popular biannual juried outdoor sculpture competition invites visitors to vote for their favorite pieces (ballots available at the Wayside Visitor Center).

The 2015 Art in Nature sculptors are Anne Alexander, Taylor Apostol, Adria Arch, Peter Dellert, Nicholas Kantarelis, Eric Lintala, Madeleine Lord, Phil Marshall, Evan Morse, Mara Sfara, Brendan Stecchini, Gianna Stewart, Leslie Zelamsky, and Bernie Zubrowski.

Awards will selected by a panel of professional jurors and by a popular vote open to all museum visitors. Jurors Prizes: $2,000 first prize, $1,000 second prize, and $500 third prize. Popular Vote Prizes: $1,000 first prize, $500 second prize, and $250 third prize. Jurors for the competition are sculptor Linda Hoffman, sculptor Murray Dewart, and Fruitlands Chief Curator Mike Volmar.

Fruitlands Museum is open Monday, Wednesday Thursday and Friday, 10AM-4PM, weekends and holidays 10AM-5PM. Admission is $14 adults, $12 seniors and students, $6 for children 5-13, and free for members and children under 5. Fruitlands Museum is located at 102 Prospect Hill Road in Harvard, Mass. For more information please visit www.fruitlands.org or call 978-456-3924 ext. 292.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS & SCULPTURES

Anne Alexander (Windham, ME) | Sculpture: Evolving Poles

Anne Alexander exhibits her smaller scale sculpture in galleries and her larger human size works in outdoor exhibits throughout New England and beyond. She participated in the 2008 International Sculptor Symposium at The Andres Institute of Art in Brookline, NH, where her sculpture "Touch Me" is on permanent display. Alexander received a BA in sculpture from Bard College, NY and an MFA with full scholarship from Alfred University, NY. She is a teaching artist who worked as an art teacher in public and private schools for over twenty years. She currently teaches sculpture, ceramic, and carving workshops to children and adults. More information at annealexandersculptor.com

Taylor Apostol (West Newton, MA) | Sculpture: Colletta Caoctico

Taylor Apostol completes her MFA in Sculpture at Boston University in May 2015. She earned a BA in Studio Art at University of Vermont and spent two years carving marble in Florence and Carrara, Italy. Apostol's sculpture has been exhibited in galleries and outdoor exhibitions in Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Italy. Her work is in the collections of Boston University Library Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Sias International University in Xinzheng, China, as well as private collections in the US and Italy. More at taylorapostol.carbonmade.com

Adria Arch (Boston, MA) - Sculpture: Tree Glyphs

Adria Arch's undergraduate studies included Rhode Island School of Design and Carnegie Mellon University. She received an MFA in painting from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Her work includes painting and mixed media as well as sculpture and installation. Adria's work was recently featured in solo exhibitions at Danforth Art in Framingham, MA, the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, MA, and Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, VA. More information at adriaarch.com

Peter Dellert (Holyoke, MA) | Sculpture: Fundamentals of Ecology

Peter Dellert is a furniture maker, sculptor and collage artist. Inspired by nature and biomorphic forms, his sculptures are made from such diverse materials as tin cans, tree branches, steel re-bar, carved Spanish cedar, concrete, and found recycled automotive catalytic converter covers. They have appeared in shows such as Sculpture Key West, Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood, Sculpture New Hope, and Sculpture Now. This summer his work will be exhibited in Art in the Park (Worcester, MA), Art in Nature (Fruitlands Museum, Harvard, MA) and Sculpture Now at the Mount (Lenox, MA). His sculptures and collages have been shown in numerous one-man exhibitions and publications, most recently in Creating Abstract Art (Northlight Books, 2014). More at dellertfurniture.com

Nicholas Kantarelis (Oakham, MA) | Sculptures: Tree 7 or 8, Posthumous Match

Born and raised in Worcester, Nicholas Kantarelis is a sculptor, painter, musician and film maker. His practice is primarily focused on large scale natural wood sculptures, painting without paint, and experimentations with chance and media. His work has been featured in a solo exhibition at ArtsWorcester's Aurora Gallery and in Michigan's Krasl Arts Center 2014 Bienniel Sculpture Invitational. More at nicholaskantarelis.com

Eric Lintala (West Wareham, MA) | Sculpture: Soaring

Eric Lintala received his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees in Sculpture from Kent State University. He is a professor in the Fine Arts Department, in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. More information at umassd.edu/cvpa/faculty/lintalaeric

Madeleine Lord (Winchester, MA) | Sculptures: Ostrich, Bette Lascaux

Madeleine Lord started cutting steel sculpture in 1983. In the past thirty years she has created both large public works as well as smaller sculptures for homes or gardens. Her work has been included multiple summers in Chesterwood Contemporary Sculpture and was featured in Woodstock, Vermont's Sculpture Fest in 2002. In 2003 she created a 9/11 Memorial, "The Enduring American Spirit," for Whitinsville, MA, and was one of 30 sculptors invited to design a garden installation for the City of Chicago's Millenium Park opening celebration. In 2012 her work was featured in a two artist retrospective in the North Carolina Asheville Art Museum and Black Mountain Art Center. Madeleine exhibits at the Patricia Carega Gallery in Center Sandwich, NH, and the Millbrook Gallery in Concord, NH. She has also shown in exhibitions sponsored by the Cambridge Art Association and New England Sculptors Association. Her Fruitlands sculpture, "Bete de Lascaux," was created with Bob Hesse. More information at mlordsculpts.com

Phil Marshall (Grafton, MA) | Sculptures: Metro, Dream Pond, Bath in Orange

Philip Marshall grew up in rural East Kent, England, where he developed his two-dimensional art mostly working in oil and pen-and-ink. After graduating from the University of Liverpool, he worked in industry and soon moved to Massachusetts. Recently he has been able to give up his design and international business careers, in order to return his focus to exploring the potential of new media and three-dimensional forms of expression. He is drawn to public art for its freedom of scale, and because he views it as "gateway art" for those who rarely visit a gallery or museum. Marshall is particularly interested in exploring the relationships between humans and nature, the individual and society; and he is fascinated by the sheer exuberance and variety of nature. More information at artsworcester.org

Evan Morse (Newton, MA) | Sculpture: Rython

Raised in the Boston area, Evan Morse has been pursuing a career in sculpture since graduating from Wheaton College, MA, in 2009. Having studied sculpture and marble-carving in Carrara, Italy, Evan enjoys combining traditional sculpture practices with an exploration of various materials and forms. His works range from representational figures to enigmatic, geometry-based compositions. He receives his M.F.A. from Boston University in May 2015. More information at evanmorse.carbonmade.com

Mara Sfara (Farmington, CT) | Sculpture: Helen of Troy

Mara Sfara is a contemporary sculptor, jeweler, representational painter, and multi-sensory kinetic artist. Her kinetic sculptures blend traditional artwork with new media creating her own unique fantasy worlds. Sfara's whimsical Greek mythological bronze sculptures convey a range of moods, humor, and attitudes with which her audience can readily identify. Her positive nature is reflected in her art, in her use of beautiful colors, objects and quixotic, idyllic serene landscapes. Her works tell stories of human relationships to the self, others and the universe. Sfara's paintings and sculptures are regularly exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide. More Information at marafinearts.com

Brendan Stecchini (Belchertown, MA) | Sculptures: Boom, Oshkosh

While working as a grinder at the Pioneer Foundry in Gilbertville, MA, Brendan Stecchini made paintings using iron grindings for pigment. These were selected by Ivan Karp and shown at O.K. Harris Gallery in NYC. After graduating from Hofstra in 1972 and the MFA program at UMass in 1975, Stecchini immediately entered an automobile demolition derby at Riverside Park Speedway in Agawam, MA with a big 1963 Plymouth station wagon. He drove the car 20 miles to get there, gutted, painted and crashed it to death! That was "junk yard sports" and a true Art Happening. Shortly followed by a 14-year career/job at an industrial scrap yard in the City of Springfield, which provided him with 13 acres of materials and a profound number of experiences. Stecchini has produced a series of sound sculptures that have been exhibited and sold throughout New England.

Gianna Stewart (Boston, MA) | Sculpture: Ladder to Fruitlands

Gianna Stewart is a Boston-based sculptor with a strong interest in public art. She has exhibited in NY, PA and MA. Stewart received her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 2014. More information at gianna.works

Leslie Zelamsky (Stow, MA) | Sculpture: Compartmentalized Inclinations

Leslie Zelamsky, originally from New York City, earned her B.F.A. from The Cooper Union School of Art. In between undergraduate and graduate school, she attended the Oxbow Artist Colony and the Vermont Studio School. After earning her M.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she was a Patricia Robert Harris Fellow, she remained in the Baltimore/Washington DC area. Her sculpture explores the intrinsic qualities of the use of common building materials to create forms that are both organic and structural. In dialogue with her sculptures, Zelamsky's paintings celebrate the contrasting aspects of the mind's use of intuition and deliberate action. Her process of layering and uncovering demonstrates her reverence for each phase of the piece's history. More at lesliezelamsky.com

Bernie Zubrowski | Sculptures: Flight, Fantail, The Long Goodbye

Over twenty years, Bernie Zubrowshi has been exploring ways of making kinetic sculptures using simple and relatively available material, interested in the way the perceptual effects of the multiple parts of each piece create a dynamic interaction as they move past each other. His sculptures don't use motors or computers but allow for interaction with a person or random air currents. Installations of his work at the science centers Explora in Albuquerque, NM; Coyote Point Museum in San Francisco, CA; and Acton Science Center in Acton, MA; and at the Concord Consortium in Concord, MA and the Education Development Center in Newton, MA. During the past year he has shown at the Boston Children's Museum and at the Cambridge Seven architectural firm. More at zubrowskib-sculpture.com

ABOUT FRUITLANDS MUSEUM

Fruitlands Museum, founded in 1914 by Clara Endicott Sears, takes its name from an experimental utopian community led by Bronson Alcott and Charles Lane that existed on this site in 1843. The Fruitlands campus includes: The Fruitlands Farmhouse, the site of an experiment in communal living led by Alcott and Lane in 1843; The Shaker Museum, home to the largest archive of Harvard Shaker documents in the world; The Native American Gallery, which houses a significant collection of artifacts that honor the spiritual presence and cultural history of the first Americans; The Art Gallery, featuring a significant display of our extensive collection of Hudson River School landscape paintings, and a partial display of our over 230 nineteenth century vernacular portraits, the second largest collection in the country. The Land feature 210 acres with panoramic views of the Nashua River Valley, including 2.5 miles of walking trails. The Fruitlands Museum Store sells fine crafts by local artists, including pottery, glass, jewelry, clothing and home furnishings. The Museum Café, open during the main season (April 16 through November 2) focuses on locally-sourced, sustainable cuisine reflective of the heritage of New England. For more information, visit www.fruitlands.org or call 978-456-3924 ext. 292.