BLACKFOOT PATHWAYS: SCULPTURE IN THE WILD
Phil Aaberg
Original composition and performance in the park
Artists in Residence 2023
Sam Clayton, Kevin O'Dwyer, Mark Jacobs
Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild
Park’s development ahead of schedule
Aug. 24, 2018
LINCOLN — Five years ago some 60 Lincoln-area residents got together in the school gym to hear of a new vision for this small mountain community.
Logging and mining were continuing to fade as foundational components of the area’s economy — not gone nor forgotten, but surely diminished.
The speaker that evening was Irish sculptor Kevin O’Dwyer who arrived in Lincoln as the guest of renowned Damascus steel knife maker Rick Dunkerley who he met at Pratt Fine Arts in Seattle, Washington where O’Dwyer was artist-in-residence. O’Dwyer proposed a sculpture symposium inviting international artists to create large-scale sculpture installations that honored the region’s industrial and environmental heritage creating a unique, living “park” that would make the community a focal point for visitors and students from Montana and, eventually, from far away. “Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild will become a Montana art destination once it’s there,” he said in 2013. “It takes a while. This is looking at it over a 10-year period.”
Five years later the sculpture park originally envisioned by O’Dwyer and Lincoln resident Rick Dunkerley is truly a presence in Lincoln, and it is well ahead of that 10-year schedule.
The sculpture park is home to 14 major environmental sculptures by internationally known artists, with three more installations to be added in the coming weeks.
Artistic Director and co-founder of the 26-acre park on the eastern edge of Lincoln, O’Dwyer is delighted with the more than 17,000 visitors who have passed through the gate this year. O’Dwyer states: “I have met visitors during the summer season from as many as 10 States, Canada and Europe. Some are specifically visiting the park as an Art Destination and others have been drawn in by the iconic “Gateway” columns created by Finish sculptor Jaakko Pernu at our entrance. Montana residents are now bringing friends and family, who visit the area, to this wonderful inspiring walk in the park! ”
BPSW’s busiest month - September - is just weeks away. (see related article for events schedule). Activities will abound as internationally known artists will be in residence creating sculptures and music, talking with visitors and students, and adding to the Blackfoot Pathways legacy.
Residents this year include sculptors Cornelia Konrads of Germany, Kate Hunt, from Kalispell, Montana, and BPSW/UM emerging artist Anne Yoncha.
BPSW Composer-in-Residence and cellist Adele O’Dwyer is curating a program that will raise the profile of music at the park and in the community to unprecedented levels. With 8 concerts during the three-week period involving musicians from New York, Ireland, Santiago (Chile), Minneapolis, Helena and Amherst there will be a buzz in the streets and the park!
The musical highlight will come near the end of the residencies: the debut of an original song cycle by Adele O’Dwyer featuring voice and a piano quartet and incorporating works by native American poets Victor Charlo and Heather Cahoon.
O’Dwyer states: It’s hard to believe we are celebrating our 5th anniversary this coming September. It has been an amazing journey for both the artists involved and the many community members who have participated in the development of the sculpture park. I love the enthusiasm of the community members who arrive with their expertise, manpower and machinery to work with our artists. This year’s program is extra special as we are celebrating our 5th anniversary with the introduction of a performing arts program in the Lincoln Community Hall - who are celebrating their 100th anniversary! Plenty to celebrate in Lincoln this September. Concerts are free, musicians are world class, come on out and enjoy a day in the park, a lunch time concert or an evening performance in Lincoln Community Hall.”
With the exception of the Sept. 22 fundraising auction and dinner (which already is sold out), all events in the course of the residencies are open to the public and free of charge. Events include no fewer than eight concerts, all at Lincoln’s 100-year-old Community Hall in the heart of the town. Also planned are evening talks by the artists.
The auction highlights the two-day “Festival in the Wild” Sept. 22-23, which includes public tours and concerts.
Blackfoot Pathways: Sculpture in the Wild
Sam Clayton and Mark Jacobs
Creativity, Collaboration and Community
Kevin O'Dwyer
Sculpture in the Wild © 2013