Art, nature converge at Storm King Art Center

Acacia O'Connor Senior Editor

“The Storm King Art Center is an unusual museum,” reads the brochure for the expansive open-air sculpture garden located in Mountainville, NY. Viewing the museum’s 91 impressive and sometimes fanciful sculptures is a worthwhile way to spend the afternoon, as Vassar’s Outing Club found when they wandered its 500 acres on Sunday, Sept. 10.

“[Storm King] provides the chance to experience nature and art as one,” said Lindsay Harris ’08. “What’s so great about it is you can do things like ride on trolleys and roll down hills and look at amazing sculpture integrated with nature. When it’s a nice day outside, it’s a beautiful way to spend your afternoon.”

Fortunately, Storm King is not a far journey from Vassar’s campus. Just south of Newburgh, it takes a little more than an hour by car to reach the museum, making it an easy day-trip

“I think everyone really enjoyed it. It is hard not too since it is such a beautiful site,” said Outing Club organizer Eleanore Neumann ’07. “There are not many places like it where you can see outdoor sculpture so thoughtfully placed in the landscape, it is really well done.”

The museum’s permanent collection boasts of a number of known sculptors, including Mark di Suvero (Mother Peace, 1969-1970, in photo at left). Di Suvero, who was born in China in 1933, has been featured in the National Gallery of Art and Smithsonian American Art Museum, among others. His structures are typically created from industrial beams and cables.

Also presently featured at Storm King is a two-year long exhibition highlighting photographs of di Suvero’s pieces taken by Richard Bellamy. Bellamy, who died in 1998, was a highly regarded art dealer and longtime friend of di Suvero. The photographs, along with drawings by di Suvero, are featured in the museum’s adjacent building.

In addition to the sculptures, Storm King is cultivating what it calls “creative farming.” Storm King has introduced native wildflowers and grasses in the expanse of land that for hundreds of years had been used for farming. The Creative Farming project started in 1997, and is expected to take several more years before the fields reach what Storm King’s web site calls “their cultivated ‘natural’ state.”

Alongside the sculptures, Storm King hosts a concert series entitled the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts. For the series groups such as the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Families Quintet perform at the museum’s outdoor pavilion.

Entrance to the museum is $10 for adults, $9 for college students and $7 for students in kindergarten through grade12. Free docent-guided tours are available every day at 2 p.m, and audioguides are available for rent for $5. The Center is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. It is closed from November until April 1.