Maudslay State Park preps for outdoor sculpture arrivals

Jim Sullivan, The Daily News of Newburyport, Mass.
·3 min read

Sep. 2—NEWBURYPORT — An 11-foot xylophone will be among the many site-specific sculptures spread throughout Maudslay State Park when the Outdoor Sculpture at Maudslay show gets underway next Sunday.

This year marks the 23rd-annual Outdoor Sculpture at Maudslay show, which is presented by the Essex National Heritage Commission and runs until Sunday, Oct. 2.

A reception and tour, which includes artists and attendees walking the show together and stopping at each sculpture, will be also held from 2 to 5 p.m., on Saturday, Sept. 17.

This year will mark co-organizer David Davies' 18th non-juried Maudslay show, which he said has produced over 850 works of art and is open to all artists with a connection to the North Shore and Merrimack Valley region.

Davies said the fact that the Outdoor Sculpture at Maudslay has no jury gives anyone who wants to sculpt a chance to do so and find an audience along the way.

"We get such a variation of sculptures. We have kids who do the show, so they often do things that are a little bit simpler, then say someone who has a background in art and design. Then we get some really complex pieces," he said.

Sculptors have a choice of many different mediums to work in and this year's group of 50 volunteer artists have chosen the theme of "Intersect" reflecting their desire to explore material boundaries, concepts and themselves.

Waldo Jespersen is a member of the Boston Sculptors Gallery and will have an interactive, 11-foot, hyperboloid xylophone available for viewing and playing during the show.

"This is like a twisted column that has hammers and is playable," Davies said.

C. Peter Erickson will also have a twisting, two-story sand fence band of color on display, a pair of large female busts gazing at each other and connected with a foraged braid by mother/daughter team Cailla and Beth Quinn will be seen. Visitors will also get a look at an alien message in Morse code spelled out with gourds by Newbury resident and ceramic engineer, Chuck Mead.

This year's sculptors also include Montserrat College of Art instructor Caroline Bagenal, Pingree School math teacher Eric Olson, computer game designer Bert Snow and professional artist Bonnie Jean Malcolm.

"Bonnie is always at the beginning of the path so she can let everybody know what they're going to see," Davies said.

Davies will also have a piece in the park's pond designed to evoke the memory of spring peepers.

"It's made out of wood and is an abstract piece that almost looks like bells, rising out of the water," he said.

Outdoor Sculpture at Maudslay is supported in part by grants from the Amesbury, Georgetown, Merrimac, Newbury, Newburyport, Rowley and West Newbury Cultural Councils and was the winner of the 2005 Gold Star award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

For more information about the show, go to: maudslay.ning.com.

Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Newburyport for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.