Meredith Sculpture Walk brings art and the outdoors together

“Snow Goose Landing” by Beverly Seamans of Massachusetts can be found on the small beach by the boardwalk at Lago. (Michael Kitch/Laconia Daily Sun)

By MICHAEL KITCH, LACONIA DAILY SUN

MEREDITH — "Sculpture occupies real space like we do," wrote the painter Chuck Close. "You walk around it and relate to it almost as another person or another object."

Nearly three dozen sculptures by 27 artists from seven states line the streets, passages and parks of downtown Meredith, each silently asking for its measure to be taken and its spirit to be plumbed. All the sculptures were chosen by a jury from among 96 entries from a field of 750 sculptors from across the Northeast. who were invited to submit examples of their work. All but a handful are on display in Meredith for the first time. And two pieces — "Black Sailboat" and "Red Wing" — first shown when the exhibition began three years ago have been added to the permanent collection.

This week, when the Sculpture Walk Committee held its annual gala to celebrate the exhibition, Bev Lapham, who chairs the committee, thanked the sponsors, property owners and volunteers whose contributions ensured the success of the exhibition. In particular, he awarded the "ground crew," those who install the sculptures, each with a cap emblazoned with the team's motto — "That Ain't Going Nowhere" — and gave the docents — all women — who lead guided tours, a visor to shade their eyes from the summer sun.

Steve Green, was among nearly a dozen of the sculptors, on hand to speak about their work. "I make rocks smaller," he said, explaining that sculpture is about "removing what you don't want." This year he has offered "The Mobius Shell," carved from Massabesic Gneiss, which originated in Africa 650 million years ago and surfaced in Milford, New Hampshire when continents collided and migrated. Mobius, he said, is "a math thing," a surface with only side and one boundary, which marks many of his carvings.The shell, Green remarked, "was just another stone in the yard, but you look at long enough and ..."

A welder by training and trade, David Borrus of Cambridge, Massachusetts developed an interest in sculpture in high school then "picked it up again during down times as a self-enrichment program." He said that he enjoying "playing with what you can do with steel," particularly in lending motion and action to human figures. "Runner," fashioned from bronze, originated as a cross country skier,he recalled, but became a distance runner in the wake of the 2013 Boston Marathon, which was marred by bombs. Soon after coming to Meredith "Runner" was taken for a jaunt and injured, but Officer Philip McLaughlin recovered the sculpture and Borrus repaired it on the spot at Mill Falls Market Place where he runs in place.

Since childhood Rita Dee of Bennington, Vermont has harbored a passion for horses, "I ride every day and keep seven horses, she said. "Tres Bien," a proud Arabian fashioned from freshwater driftwood spawned by Hurricane Irene and fetched from the Hudson, Walloomac and Sac rivers is pastured in Hesky Park, Dee said her sculptures, which have included a stag and a bison as well as horses, may require between 450 and 750 pieces of driftwood. "I never have enough," she said, "and when I need a certain shape, I have to go get it. I never take a piece out," she continued. "I leave it and work with it. The struggle improves the work."

"Bull" emerged from a block of basalt, a very hard rock born of very hot but quickly cooled magma, hewed by the hands of Andreas von Huene of Woolwich, Maine. The sculpture, he explained, acquired its identity from "the clues in the rock and my dialogue with them." The basalt, he remarked, told him "check out my curves" and the outcome was a set of concave surfaces, squared shapes and bold lines, all with crisp edges, capturing the power of the beast. "I force my will on the medium at my peril," he said.

Hugh Gibbons of North Falmouth, Massachusetts, who taught torts at the University of New Hampshire School of Law, also found time to master the 28 steps required to cast a wooden sculpture into hollow bronze. His "Red Wing," an asymmetrical pair of elegant leaves, finished with a brilliant patina, rising from a single stem has graced Scenic Park for three years. He noted that the patina has changed with time, lending an organic property to the work.

"Pheasant," which rises in front of the Hermitage Winery is the work of Tom Sleeper, a welder from Belmont, New Hampshire. His goal, he explained, was to capture the identity of a bird seen at a distance, offering only a silhouette, "by the way it moves."

Steve Hayden, a Meredith sculptor, who partnered with a neighbor, David Little, to make "Black Sailboat" and with Alex Kalish to offer Lover's Light, a medley of steel and glass, spoke to the value of the Sculpture Walk. "People are busy," he began. "slow down and be in the moment. Sit and stare at something something for a moment. Art and beauty are important to us," he closed.

Brochures, which include a picture of each sculpture, roster of the artists and map of the walk are available at four kiosks at the post office and at the entrances to the Courtyard on Main, Hesky Park and Scenic Park as well as at the Town Hall, Meredith Library and local businesses. Guided tours begin at the Innisfree Bookshop at 10 a.m. on Wednesdays through Aug. 17 and on Saturdays through September. For more information, visit www.greatermeredithprogram.com.