Site-Specific Sculpture ‘Garden of the Seasons’
The Artwork
Garden of the Seasons is located on a main pathway of the Middlebury College campus. A granite bench sits in front of an aluminum structure with water trickling over it. This transforms into an ice sculpture in the winter months. Behind this structure is a garden and stream also designed by the artist.
The site-specific environmental sculpture engages visitors with sound, light, color, texture, and fragrance. The artist’s website further describes it as follows:
The garden is a semi-sheltered contemplative place to enjoy the air and light of Vermont, socialize, meet a friend, read and view the landscape and the quad in all seasons.
At the threshold of the garden a warm season Water Wall transforms to a winter Ice Wall. Depending on the temperature. The surface of the Ice Wall slowly grows vertical ice sheets or the ice melts away revealing a pattern of steel and aluminum lattice. In the spring and summer the water wall has the ambient sound of slowly flowing water punctuated by the sound of insects and birds within the garden.
The garden opens to a small semi-circular plaza of sculpted concrete pavers and a curving granite bench with views to distant mountains. A sunken garden chamber set at different elevations functions as a gravitational stormwater runoff treatment system under the plantings. A long naturalized bioswale enfolds the garden with wildflowers and grasses. All the plantings of the garden are indigenous ground covers, wildflowers, shrubs, and vines. Many of the plants have winter berries and summer blooms that provide habitat for birds and butterflies.
The Restoration
The original grey paint which coated the aluminum structure failed and was peeling.
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My work involved removing the peeled paint and applying a two-part epoxy paint matching the original color.
I researched paint used on metal exposed to water. These two-part epoxy paints have been used successfully on bridges for many decades.
I cleaned the stone, removed old paint, and applied the epoxy. The project took me one day without assistance.
Read more about the artwork here.
