{"id":9006,"date":"2021-11-21T09:05:11","date_gmt":"2021-11-21T13:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=9006"},"modified":"2021-11-21T11:30:29","modified_gmt":"2021-11-21T15:30:29","slug":"how-a-sculpture-show-reveals-deep-emotional-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=9006","title":{"rendered":"How a Sculpture Show Reveals Deep Emotional Meaning"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Wire sculptures by Kristine Mays in an exhibited titled \u201cRich Soil\u201d enlivened the gardens at the Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens in Washington, D.C.Credit…Erik Kvalsvik\/Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. Photo courtesy of Hillwood Museum & Gardens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>
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On a recent morning, the blooming gardens of the\u00a0Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens<\/a>, tucked away in the northwest corner of Washington, D.C., were alive with flashes of movement.<\/p>\n

There were children careening down the slope of a manicured lawn and couples posing for selfies while hugging life-size, three-dimensional dancing wire sculptures that seemed to float above the ferns and foliage.<\/p>\n

Read on The New York Times<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The vibrant 13-acre formal garden is far removed from its past as a hidden, exclusive enclave that was the home of\u00a0Marjorie Merriweather Post<\/a>, daughter of the breakfast-cereal tycoon C.W. Post.<\/p>\n

Hillwood, a private\u00a0museum<\/a>, opened to the public in 1977 after Ms. Post\u2019s death, and displays her predominantly 18th- and 19th-century French and Russian art collection, featuring the work of Faberg\u00e9, S\u00e8vres porcelain, Gobelins tapestries and Aubusson carpets.<\/p>\n

But in June, it was the garden exhibition, \u201cRich Soil<\/a>,\u201d by the San Francisco artist\u00a0Kristine Mays<\/a>\u00a0that welcomed post-pandemic visitors to stroll its pathways and play amid the seven groupings of her 29 sculptures, each of which is made from thousands of separate pieces of rebar tie steel wire looped and hooked together.<\/p>\n

It is all part of a bold\u00a0program<\/a> to transform a staid and restrained museum that has long been hidden from the consciousness of many of the city\u2019s residents and visitors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt was the most highly attended summer in our history, with more than 25,000 visitors from June 12 to Aug. 31,\u201d said Rebecca Tilles, Hillwood\u2019s associate curator of 18th-century French and Western European fine and decorative arts and the curator of the exhibition. \u201cThat\u2019s 21 percent ahead of the same time in 2017 \u2014 the previous record for summer attendance,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n