Almost a year after COVID came to Minnesota, I was antsy for any excuse to leave our house. So, on an early spring Saturday, J and I headed up to Shafter, Minnesota to check out the Franconia Sculpture Park. Franconia is a 50-acre outdoor sculpture park about 45 minutes northeast of the Twin Cities. It’s the perfect type of art gallery for COVID times.
A couple of hot tips if you’re venturing up from southern Minnesota: swing by the Lindström Bakery on the way and get a Scandinavian donut. I’m determined the next time we go to stop at the Sven Factory Outlet in Chisago City to finally get fitted from some clogs.
Reclamation by Melanie VanHouten
Vascular Form V, Orientation by Foon Sham (J’s favorite)
The park is located on what feels like the farm of an eccentric welder. If you go to Franconia in the spring, bring your galoshes. It was pretty muddy. However, there is no entrance fee (although you can make a donation in the lovely new visitor center). The park is home to about 100 sculptures, designed and built by artists from all over the world. While some have been there for a while, the intent was for the sculptures to rotate out every couple of years to make space for new ones. So, even if you’ve been before, it’s worth revisiting to see what has changed.
We Move Still, April Martin in collaboration with Jordan Rosenow (I almost cried watching this blow in the strong spring wind)
Franconia was started in 1996 by a small group of artists (including a family member + spouse of a newspaper magnate, as best I can recall from the signage in the welcome center). The rural arts champion in me loved it: world-class + local artists all bringing their work to a tiny little town. A lot of the pieces were interactive. You could touch them, and for some, climb on them. It was an unpretentious version of the Walker Sculpture Garden.
In addition to the sculptures, Franconia runs an artist residency program and provides work space to both emerging and established artists. About 180,000 people visit each year, according to its website. However, if you get there early, it didn’t feel crowded.
Variations on Becoming by Tom Bierlein
Clearing by Jennifer Newsom and Tom Carruthers
They also have a wonderful little gift shop.