At Chesterwood—the former home and studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French, creator of the Lincoln Memorial—people come to seek out art in nature.
Along with the French residence and examples of his work in his studio, the museum/gallery also houses exhibits of contemporary sculpture among the grounds and trails of Chesterwood—trails through the woods that were designed by French himself.
And along with the art in natural surroundings is, increasingly, new art taking shape.
Beginning last summer, Chesterwood restarted its artist-in-residence program to bring sculptors to Chesterwood who seek inspiration and new surroundings in their work, according to Donna Hassler, Chesterwood’s director since 2008.
The program began in the 1980s, but funding declined and the program ended.
Last year, Hassler started it up again, with help from a grant awarded by the High Meadow Foundation and further donations from the Fitzpatrick family.
This summer’s artists-in-residence are Joel Erland and Kate Kaman.
“It is a rewarding program, and it fascinates me because I want to find out how Chesterwood effects their work,” Hassler said.
A grant application to the Andy Warhol foundation could fund the program for three more years.
At the recent Berkshire County residents’ Family Day any resident of the county was offered free admission. Admirers strolled the still soggy trails, admired the sculptor’s tools and miniature models on display in his primary studio, which he created as part of the process to create the full-size figures.
Hassler noted that part of the overall goal at Chesterwood is to bring creativity back to the property.
“My hope is that we will see creativity happening here again as we did in Daniel Chester French’s time,” she said. “We already have artists who make a pilgrimage every year to see the studio. They feel so inspired being here, but they’re also inspired by the other artists here.”
There have been some challenges over the years.
Chesterwood has been a cultural venue since 1978, Hassler said. Since then, more than 500 artists have shown their work on the 122-acre property or in one of the 10 buildings. The five full-time and 20 seasonal employees serve roughly 13,000 visitors every year. Attendance is down quite a bit from the 1992 high of 36,000 visitors, a decline that has been experienced by the majority of cultural institutions around the county and the nation since the early 1990s.
“My sense is that things are going pretty well for Chesterwood, but we still need to work on increasing our funding,” Hassler said.
Sources of funding for the venue, which is owned and operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, include admission fees, donations from patrons, interest from the $2.6 million endowment, membership dues, fundraisers and grants.
One of this year’s fundraiser was the Cider Mash Bash. A live band, dancing and dinner were featured.
For the future, the stucco siding of the French studio is due for replacement soon, and the renovation of the French home will come next.
Hassler then hopes to augment children’s programs and the artists-in-residency effort, all to make the creation of art a bigger part of what happens at Chesterwood.
Strolling the ground one recent afternoon were elderly brothers, both county residents and widowers, Tamarack and Bruce Garlow.
“We haven’t seen this exhibit yet, so we thought we’d check it out,” Tamarack Garlow said. “It sure is different than your average art museum—it’s got the woods, the fields and the big houses with art in them. We keep on coming back.”
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AP-WF-09-18-11 1334GMT