Sculpture in the Wild unveils latest additions

The early winter storm that brought heavy snow to the much of Montana Saturday and Sunday prompted visiting Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild artists Stuart Ian Frost and Alison Stigora to head out a day early to beat the weather and nearly led to the cancellation of the official launch of the new work. But a handful of locals braved the cold and showed up Saturday afternoon to check it out regardless.

BPSW President Becky Garland and Artistic Director Kevin O'Dwyer led the small group out to the new installations, foregoing the usual presentation in the Teepee Burnerin favor of a chat inside Allison Stigora's installation, "Clearing."

O'Dwyer said both artists created something new and different, in a style they've never done before.

Both new pieces share a common theme in that they are both shelters in a sense, but they are opposites in both form and function.

Frost's piece has the rectangular shape of a cabin, but it's not one a person can necessarily enter.

Stigora's piece has a round shape that, from most angles, looks like a solid mass of burned wood, but it encloses a an opens space people can spend time in. O'Dwyer said this is the first time she's created such a shelter-type form.

"This is one in which she's really been experimenting as well. You're able to go in, sit in it and engage in that way," he said.

Frost on the other hand is known for creative patterns on massive blocks of wood or dead trees, but this time he created a piece using 102 separate, vertical fir planks in a specific shape.

Although neither artist was at the launch, both discussed their finished work with the BVD.

During a visit last Thursday to the Upper Blackfoot Valley Historical Society Interpretive Center behind the Hi Country Trading Post, Frost explained the influence area history had on his installation.

"Where we're standing now, this is where the project started, in a sense, for me as well," he said and motioned to the nearby Robert's Homestead Cabin, "The building up on the hill there is where we took the measurements for the piece now in the park."

Rather than fall back on a familiar process, Frost tried something new. "I've taken more of a risk and done something that I didn't know technically how it would work and how it would stand up ... now that it's in place I think structurally and everything about it is just gonna work" he said.

Frost used the fir planks, cut in the pattern of an antique crosscut saw blade and stood on end, to re-create a version of the small historic cabin. He found the saw blade design, called a perforated lance tooth, during a visit to Garnet.

"I think what s happened with this piece of work is everything gelled." he said. "One bit from Garnet, bits from Lincoln and everything from Montana, now we've got something to show for my time being here."

From the design of a homestead cabin to the pattern of sawblades used 100-years ago, Frost said it also speaks to the history of the area and the things that people should look after and protect.

Frost isn't sure everyone who sees the piece will necessarily recognize the sawblades, but he thinks they will all discover something through it visually.

Frost initially thought of calling his installation Settlement, but instead he opted for 'A Place is a Place is a Place' to reflect the importance of this place, while also recognizing that there are any number of places that are special to someone.

Like Frost, Stigora also went through a process to find the title for her piece, before settling on "Clearing," which she felt worked on several levels.

"As an artist who's worked with burnt wood before it was really meaningful for me to work with material that was actually burnt by nature," said Stigora, who normally chars the wood she uses herself.

Stigora thought about how wildfire itself provides a clearing of the woods that creates space for new growth, and even contemplated the aspect of clearing the forest of burned wood as they gathered the material for the sculpture.

"People here have a relationship with this material and it something that's typically cast off," she said, adding this was a chance to reclaim that, salvage it and create a quite, contemplative, peaceful space for people to visit.

Beyond the landscape aspect, she also sees the piece as relating to clearing on a mental emotional or spiritual level.

"To me this piece is a lot about the transition between the exterior, the physical body experience of it, and the interior. When you're right up next to this piece it feels kind of imposing, it's leaning over you. There is that sense of danger or threat, just as I imagine it must feel when you're living in the valley and you see smoke all around you, that sense of 'am I gonna be OK?'"

With light flooding in through the open top, she said there's a really strong shift in how the piece feels as you enter it and find yourself in a bright, quiet contemplative space related to clarity of thought or mind.

"What are the things I'm moving that process of becoming clear?" she asked. "What does that mean for you?"

Although this year's launch may have paled in comparison to those of past years, O'Dwyer sees the importance of the two new installations in context of both the Sculpture in the Wild and the evolution of the two artists.

"We have two really unique pieces this year that I'm really happy with," O'Dwyer said Saturday.