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Meredith Kessler 612.375.7651 meredith.kessler@walkerart.org

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WALKER ART CENTER ANNOUNCES PLAN TO RELOCATE

SCULPTURES DURING MINNEAPOLIS SCULPTURE GARDEN
RECONSTRUCTION
NEW PARTNERSHIPS WITH WEISMAN ART MUSEUM, MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS, AND
GOLD MEDAL PARK ALLOW FIVE SCULPTURES TO REMAIN ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC
MINNEAPOLIS, February 12 2015The Walker Art Center is pleased to announce
a number of sculptures from the institutions collection on view in the Minneapolis
Sculpture Garden will temporarily relocate to the Weisman Art Museum, the
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and Gold Medal Park this summer and remain on
view during the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden Reconstruction Project.

Walker Art Center

Thanks to the support of the citizens of Minnesota, the state legislature, and
Governor Mark Dayton, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board received $8.5
million in public bonding support to fund the much-needed reconstruction of this
major cultural asset of the state. In addition, the Mississippi Watershed
Management Organization has dedicated up to $1.5 million for innovative storm
water management systems in the project. This will be the largest and most
comprehensive work on the Garden since it opened in 1988 and will require its
closure for up to a year and a half beginning in the fall of 2015.
Nearly all Garden artworks will be placed in storage during construction, but
thanks to innovative partnerships with the Gold Medal Park Conservancy Fund, the
MIA, and the Weisman, several of the most beloved sculptures will relocate
through short- or long-term loans, and remain accessible to the public. The loans
are renewable each year and the partnering organizations have agreed to the
arrangement for up to 5 years, after which time the loans will be reevaluated.

Frank Gehry
Standing Glass Fish (1986)
Gift of Anne Pierce Rogers in honor of her
grandchildren, Will Rogers and Lily Rogers
Grant, 1986
Frank Gehry

Brower Hatchers Prophecy of the Ancients (1988), Mark di Suveros Molecule

(1977-83), and Tony Craggs Ordovician Pore (1989) will be loaned short-term to
Gold Medal Park, which sits adjacent to and reunites with the Guthrie Theater, the
Gardens former neighbor. Jacques Lipchitzs Prometheus Strangling the Vulture II
(1944/1953) will be loaned long-term to the MIA, aligning with the institutions
robust bronze collection, and Frank Gehrys Standing Glass Fish (1986) will be on

long-term loan to the Weisman, housed in the iconic Frank Gehry designed
building on the University of Minnesota campus.
We are thrilled so many cherished works will remain in the public eye, said
Weisman director Lyndel King. The Frank Gehry Standing Glass Fish, in particular,
will have a fitting home in Gehrys first major museum project, the Weisman.
Frank is working very closely on the works relocation and conservation.

Brower Hatcher
Prophecy of the Ancients (1988)
Gift of the Lilly family, 1989
Brower Hatcher

It is beyond exciting to be a part of an innovative solution that is built on

partnership with a focus on community, added Wendy Nelson of the Gold Medal
Park Conservancy Fund. The opportunity to keep significant works on view for the
public and to celebrate the historic connection between the Walker and the
Guthrie with the sculptures again as neighborsstunning, really. A perfect
representation of why our city continues to thrivecollaborative leadership with a
focus on WE. Gold Medal Park was honored to join in this community gift and
message.
Works currently installed in the Garden will be removed and transported to
partner locations starting as early as June 2015.
Public funding for the project will cover Garden reconstruction costs.
Transportation and maintenance costs for the temporary relocations of art will be
the responsibility of the Walker and its partners.
Its important to all of us that some of the most beloved art works remain on
public view while the Garden is under extensive reconstruction. Were grateful to
our local partners for making this possible, said Olga Viso, the Walkers Executive
Director. As a contemporary art center that champions new art and emerging
artists, this project also presents an exciting opportunity for the Walker to add
new artworks for the reopening in spring 2017, as we look forward to a renewed
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden for the next generation and beyond.

About the reconstruction project

Jacques Lipchitz
Prometheus Strangling the Vulture II
(1944/1953)
Gift of the T.B. Walker Foundation, 1956
Jacques Lipchitz

Mark di Suvero
Molecule (1977-83)
Gift of Honeywell, Inc. in honor of Harriet and
Edson W. Spencer, 1991
Mark di Suvero

In 1988, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board partnered with the Walker Art
Center to develop the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, the first major urban
sculpture park in the country. Today the Garden is one of the crown jewels of the
park system, uniting two of Minnesotas most cherished resourcesits green
space and its cultural life. The 11-acre site, home to the iconic Spoonbridge and
Cherry (1985-1988) by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, showcases more
than 40 works from the Walkers internationally renowned collections.
After 26 years and more than 9 million visitors, the Gardens infrastructure needs
to be reconstructed in a sustainable manner to serve visitors now and for
generations to come. The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden Reconstruction and
Cowles Conservatory Renovation Project includes repairs to or replacement of
infrastructure such as irrigation, drainage, and stormwater systems, walkways,
retaining walls, and other physical assets. The project will require closure of the
Garden for up to a year and a half during construction beginning in the fall of 2015.
The project is led by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board in partnership
with the Walker and the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization.

For more information and to sign up for timely email updates regarding the
project, the public can visit: minneapolisparks.org/currentprojects.

Contact information

Tony Cragg
Ordovician Pore (1989)
Gift of Joanne and Philip Von Blon, 1989
Tony Cragg

Walker Art Center:

Meredith Kessler
Meredith.kessler@walkerart.org
612-375-7651
Weisman Art Museum:
Erin Lauderman
elauderman@umn.edu
612-625-9685
Minneapolis Institute of Arts:
Anne-Marie Wagener
awagener@artsmia.org
612-870-3280
Gold Medal Park Conservancy Fund:
Contact the Walker press office with queries
Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board:
Dawn Sommers
dsommers@minneapolisparks.org
612-230-6407

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Premiere Partners

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board
Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage
fund.
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