| Photo by Pete DeMola |
| One man’s junk is another man’s art. Edward “Ted” Cornell makes sculptures out of found materials at Crooked Brook, his studio in Wadhams, a space that occupies the confluence of art and agriculture. Readers are encouraged to tour his studio on Aug. 29 as part of the Spirit of Place Studio Tour. |
WADHAMS — It’s a striking sight as you hang a right on Sayre Road and drive deeper into the countryside on a mid-summer morning —
Sculptures punctuating the vista. Dozens of them, from rusting hulks to piles of household objects that look as if they were deposited by an angry telekinetic with the flick of a wrist.
Welcome to the Art Farm at Crooked Brook Studios.
It’s a place that exists at the intersection between the two elements of the region’s changing landscape, explained Edward “Ted” Cornell, the farm’s mastermind.
Art and farming: the former; a draw to attract visitors to the rebirth of the latter.
The first piece to dot the landscape in 2002 was the “Phoenix of Wadhams,” a sculpture assembled, in part, from a neighbor’s old silo and a discarded tractor axle.
Some would dismiss it as junk. But rusted junk has an honored place at the farm.
“Junk has memory and junk suggests possibilities,” said Cornell. “I love it because it talks to us about our common origins, how we all come from a long line of junk — I love it because it awakens unknown futures.”
Our very sun is a junk star, Cornell noted, made of the debris of its predecessors.
The artist’s fascination with technology and life was awakened by his relationship with his neighbor, Harold Sayre, when he first moved to the property in 1989 after his growing distemper with New York City became unavoidable.
“I wanted to enter this landscape to be changed by it and work to create a refuge here in an increasingly difficult world,” Cornell wrote in a biographical essay. “Of course, I was not alone.”
Sayre, who owned a 600 acre dairy farm, was immediately welcoming and friendly to his arrival, recalled Cornell, who also keeps a firm hand in a theatre world. Sayre assisted him in his transition and the pair spent many long hours in conversation before the farmer passed away.
“He became a real friend in short time we had together,” said Cornell. “He opened the window on that life that preceded the one we’re living in.”
The sculptures glinted in the haze on muggy summer morning as a pair of black cats, Boris and Sasha, danced underfoot and amidst the technicolor flowers — a slice of Aix-en-Provence right here in the Champlain Valley.
It’s a place where the items, all of which are constructed from found materials, can provoke intense meditation across a galaxy of concepts — the cosmos, farming history, consumerism, the recession.
But it’s not all highbrow. The work is laced with deep undercurrents of sardonic humor — like “Stone Cone One,” an, er, floating conical pile of stones.
You’d better go see for yourself. The farm is always open and Cornell encourages visitors to prowl about.
The artist noted guests tend to wander the grounds first before seeking out an explanation, eventually looping back to a small structure containing narrative materials.
“A lot of people have a powerful experience without a lot of spurning,” said Cornell.
Cornell said it’s important for the community, those who he referred to as the “skilled people of this valley,” to be involved in the creative process. He already counts the local workmen who help him locate, transport and plant the exhibits into the soil as active collaborators.
“The community feeds it,” he said.
The summer has been a busy one for Crooked Brook. Cornell submitted three pieces to the ongoing Spirit of Place exhibition in Westport; he’ll open his studio to the public on Aug. 29 and on Sept. 22, Champlain Area Trails will launch a new trail that’ll take people from the woods and spit them out onto his property.
Cornell envisions skiers and snowshoers dropping in to warm their hands over a fire, cupping cups of hot cider in the moonlight.
“This is the beginning of a new life for the farm,” said Cornell.
Crooked Brook open its doors on Saturday, Aug. 29 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. as part of the 2015 Spirit of Place Studio Tour.
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