This Set tells the story of Spoonbridge and Cherry, the centerpiece of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and iconic symbol for the city of Minneapolis. Use this presentation before or after a visit to the Garden to enrich your experience. This resource is designed to engage students in seeing, thinking, and conversing about works of art. This telling of the sculpture's story is divided into three sections.
SECTION 1: AN IDEA TAKES SHAPE AND TAKES HOLD
Where did the ideas for this sculpture come from? How did collaboration influence the artists' process? How did the idea become reality?
SECTION 2: ABOUT THE ARTISTS AND ABOUT THE ARTWORK
How does Spoonbridge and Cherry compare to other work by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen? What were the artists trying to suggest by perching a huge cherry atop an exaggerated spoon?
SECTION 3: REFURBISHING THE CHERRY
In this chapter, we take a look 'under the hood.' What's that thing made of, anyhow? What does it take for the Walker Art Center to conserve a public sculpture such as this?
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Left: untitled study for the sculpture Spoonbridge and Cherry. What is taking form in this sketch?
Right: Collaborating artists Claes Oldenburg (Kläs OL-den-berg) and Coosje van Bruggen (CO-sha van-BRU-gan) discuss the origin of Spoonbridge and Cherry.
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As Claes Oldenburg mentioned, the spoon motif had frequently appeared in his doodles and drawings. It was inspired by a trinket he kept around—a tiny spoon resting on a nugget of fake chocolate. His idea of making an absurdly large spoon was complemented by Coosje van Bruggen’s contribution to poise a cherry atop the utensil. The fruit is idealized and tantalizing, appearing as though it were plucked off the top of a gargantuan dessert.
Van Bruggen:
"The idea came actually from Claus. He had the idea. He put in the spoon."
Oldenburg:
"First of all we had the idea. Then the idea has to be represented. So the idea has to be drawn, and it's usually drawn in a very small scale in a—well, very often I'm sitting at dinner and I take out my notebook. And I get very inspired when I eat for some reason."
Left: untitled study for the sculpture Spoonbridge and Cherry
Claes Oldenburg, b. 1929
Drawing
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Drawings and maquettes, such as these, play a role in the artists' process and help them visualize the effect of their choices. What evidence do you see that the artists are playing with notions such as scale and setting? By the time these manifestions come into being, there is already a long-running conversation between the artists and the Walker Art Center.
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WHAT IS A COMMISSION?
When an institution appoints an artist to execute a work, this act is known as a commission. (The word "commission" can also refer to the resulting work.) At the core of every commission is a unique relationship between the commissioning institution and the artist(s).
WHAT FORM DOES A COMMISSION TAKE?
A commission can be almost anything—dance, music, video, film, sculpture, installation, projects for the Internet, architecture, and design.
IS A COMMISSION MADE FOR A SPECIFIC SITE?
Depending on the nature of the work, sometimes no and other times yes. A site-specific work, for example, would not be the same work if it existed in any other location. Spoonbridge and Cherry is one of many site-specific commissions in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
IS A COMMISSION PERMANENT? WHO OWNS IT?
Every commission is the exception to the rule. Performing arts commissions are ephemeral events that can be presented elsewhere while the artist maintains rights to it. When a Walker commission results in a tangible object, the work is usually accessioned into the collection. Spoonbridge and Cherry is permanent and owned by the Walker Art Center. It requires extensive care to conserve it for generations to come.
WHY DOES THE WALKER COMMISSION NEW WORK?
From classical antiquity, artists have been commissioned to make artworks. Historically, patrons—religious institutions, mercantile organizations, the nobility, or individual philanthropists—provided the financial and moral support for artists. Today, many museums not only collect and exhibit artwork, but also support contemporary artists through commissions.
Commissioning new work is one of the many ways the Walker fulfills its mission as "a catalyst for the creative expression of artists and the active engagement of audiences."
The information above is adapted text from What is a Commission?, the exhibition brochure for Commission Possible: Walker Art Center, 1980–1998.
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The sculpture is the centerpiece of the 11-acre Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, which opened in 1988. In this video from the opening-day celebration, the artists express their hope that the sculpture will be enjoyed by all.
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Claes Oldenburg is best known for his giant “soft sculptures.” Sewn from cloth and stuffed to give them form, these works represent ordinary objects from everyday life such as this bag of french fries and big electrical plug. Oldenburg had already created more than 20 large-scale sculptures, including Clothespin in Philadelphia, when he and his wife and collaborater Coosje van Bruggen were commissioned to make a fountain-sculpture for the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
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The formal geometry of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden reminded the artists of the palace at Versailles, near Paris. The idea of a giant spoon humorously references the overblown dining etiquette in the court of King Louis XIV of France.
Left: Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
Right: Versailles gardens
Additional image: Google Maps' satelite view of the Garden
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Some Facts about the Work of Art
The cherry weighs 1,200 pounds and is 9.5 feet in diameter.
The spoon weights 5,800 pounds and measures 52 feet in length.
The spoon arches over a pond shaped to resemble the a linden tree's seed.
The components for this enormous sculpture were created in ship-building yards in New England. (Take a peek at the spoon in progress.)
The spoon and cherry were transported to Minnesota on trucks and placed in the Garden using a crane.
Water sprays from the top of the12-foot stem. The stem's base is a second source of water that cascades over the fruit's surface.
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For twenty-one years, the sculpture withstood cold Minnesota winters, and during the warm months, a constant stream of water gave a glisten to its red surface. With time and exposure to the elements, the cherry began to show signs of deterioration. Close inspection of its surface revealed a network of hairline cracks. If left untreated, these would continue to widen and lift the compound away from the surface. In February 2009 the cherry was removed for restoration.
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Left: A visitor's perspective of the sculpture sans cerise
Right: Eleven coats of paint were removed from the cherry's surface, as well as a thick layer of underlying fairing compound (auto-body putty). Here we see the object sandblasted down to the bare metal.
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After reaching bare metal, the surface of the cherry was sprayed with a yellow oxide epoxy primer, followed by a coat of gray epoxy primer. Layers of a green immersion-grade fairing compound, the same product used to shape the hulls of ocean vessels, were spread over the surface and allowed to dry. This final layer was applied and hand-sanded until the appropriate circumference was reached.
View more stages of the process on the Walker's Flickr site.
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Since its installation in 1988, this prominent public sculpture has charmed the people of Minneapolis who have, in turn, adopted it as an icon. Depending on who you ask, it can represent the Garden, the Twin Cities, or the region's arts and culture. In this recording, Claes Oldenburg foretells the sculpture's dynamic potential to become integrated with the lives of the public.
What meaning will you bring out of Spoonbridge and Cherry?
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This set was assembled with the help of Robin Dowden, Susan Rotilie, and Sarah Schultz
APPENDIX (Just for fun, spoons appearing in art around the world)
France: A sculptural intervention featuring spoons set in a different garden (International Garden Festival of Chaumont sur Loire)
Minneapolis, MN: Davey dances on Spoonbridge and Cherry's stage (music by Spoon)
Netherlands: These other-worldly objects are made of ordinary spoons. (Scroll through the photostream to see the related images.)
U.K.: Bob Budd's Eating for England, part of Wildspace Network; Utensil benches carved by an unattributed artist using a chainsaw; Subodh Gupta's Spooning (2009); and are these spoons? (Triton III by Bryan Kneale, installed in the Royal Academy's Annenberg Courtyard)
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