ALDRICH ART: Museum official on outdoor sculpture series

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Ridgefield Press
ALDRICH ART: Museum official on outdoor sculpture series

Mar 27, 2008

I would like to take this opportunity to engage the community about the work chosen by The Aldrich for our Old Hundred building as part of the Main Street Sculpture Project.

We are very cognizant of the high visibility of the site, and the historic nature of our immediate neighborhood, but we are a public institution and take our mission very seriously, and outdoor sculpture is a major part of that mandate.

Our administration building was a general store in the period from 1784 to 1884, which is why it is the perfect venue for Ester Partegàs’s The Invisible. The artist was fascinated with the history of the building and the fact that 2008 is Ridgefield’s tricentennial year, and she wanted to do something that was mindful of history, but also festive and eye-catching.

The awning also relates to the fact that the building had a porch until the 1920s, and we hope that once the warm weather arrives people will use the shelter of the awning as a place to congregate. On a recent warm and rainy day, several Main Street strollers did indeed gather under the awning for a conversation.

The artist will be at The Aldrich on Wednesday, April 16, and I invite those interested in learning more about the project to come to the museum at 11 a.m. for a tour and discussion.

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I have worked at the museum for many years and got to know the museum’s founder, Larry Aldrich, very well before his passing in 2001. He saw every exhibition at the museum, even in the last years of his life when his health was failing, and he consistently had an open and challenging attitude toward new art.

I’ll never forget one conversation I had with him in the late 1990s after he viewed a new exhibition at the museum. “I don’t like this particular art, but I understand this is what artists are doing now, and I respect both their efforts and the museum’s role in presenting it to the public.”

This is quite an inspiring statement, and I always keep it in mind in my work in the museum world.

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When we decide to work with an artist on a new piece for the Main Street location, we want them to make something that is publicly engaging and notable. We have failed if, six months or a year later, people have completely forgotten about something we presented.

From experience, we have learned that there is no predicting what the public response will be to a new work in front of the museum. The museum’s files from the 1960s and 1970s yield fascinating letters that were sent to Mr. Aldrich, complaining about the abstract “metal junk” that was then installed outside.

How things change! These same artists now have works on college campuses, in shopping malls, and in front of corporate headquarters, and we have accepted them to the point where they have become a part of our daily lives.

In showing new art, and in presenting the work of young artists, we are always taking a risk. The Invisible will be on view until August ... and then it will be gone.

It is my hope that, in the 22nd Century, some future Ridgefield historian will find a picture of the work and will be not only intrigued but also unable to resist a smile!