Snow Sculptures: A Collaboration of Art + Nature 
As the calendar flipped to a new year, my husband Jim and I and two friends, Liz and Rene, embraced the cold and joined a guided snowshoe tour at deCordova’s picturesque sculpture park in Lincoln, MA. If you’ve never visited deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum you are truly missing out on an amazing day of interactive play with art and nature

Carol Spack - Bark Balls: 2002, bronze, each 16"-18" diameter Our tour began at the museum where we met Karen, one of deCordova’s friendly staff. She, along with instructors from Eastern Mountain Sports, outfitted us with gear and provided some basic snowshoeing tips for easy touring. Our group included two EMS instructors, Karen and Sandy (one of deCordova’s sculpture park tour guides), a family with young kids, a group of women, several couples and our little foursome. With poles in hand, we were off! 

Arranged on 35 acres of woodland and rolling lawns, the sculpture park displays pieces from its collection and site-specific installations created to fit into the landscape. My favorite pieces are the sculptures that you have to look at twice and wonder, “Is that art, or is it nature imitating art?” 

We trekked across a carpet of fresh snow and stopped at a number of sculptures along the main lawn, where Sandy shared stories about each artist and sculpture. We would laugh, exchange ideas and ask more questions, which got us all thinking about and seeing the sculptures from different perspectives. 

“What does this sculpture look like to you?” 
“Does it appear to be heavy or light in form?” 
“Do you see those two hearts? From this distance what do you think they are made of?”

One of the most interesting sculptures we found was tucked under the low-hanging limbs of a large evergreen. We ducked down and entered a cozy little space, inside which we found Ronald Gonzalez’s Cones hidden and protected by the branches. The sculpture – made of steel, pinecones, wire and moss – drew much wonder from the group, especially the children, who saw the sculpture as secret woodland people. Each figure was unique in form and shape, spaced perfectly in rows. “Maybe they are warriors frozen in time,” one child said.

Ronald Gonzalez - Cones: 2007, steel + natural materialsAhhh…how easy it is for children to look beyond the surface and create a story of their own. Maybe it was the mix of playing in the snow and the subjective nature of viewing art that made my inner child discover new ideas and ways of thinking that my adult self often can’t see. 


Share Your Creative Day With Us 
Have you taken part in one of deCordova’s Guided Snowshoe Tours? Or have you toured other museums or cultural sites that are engaging their visitors in fun and surprising ways? If so and you’d like to share your experience with Élan’s online community, post a comment to this blog. We’d love to hear from you!