ALIGHT: The Spirit of the Red Tail Hawk

Just landed, ready to fly, observant, noble and respected, the Red Tail Hawk is a common raptor of human environments. Agile in the cityscape and familiar in the rural hedgerow, Red Tail Hawk is a survivor. These Vermont hills have similarly survived and adapted to a rich heritage of human occupation. Precious soil and abundant rock have conspired to doom all but the most ambitious. Red Tail Hawk stands as a patient monument to the toil that takes place here. ALIGHT is part human yet mostly hawk. It rests fleetingly on this landscape, blessing the place – passing no judgment, but poised to fly.

ALIGHT is a collaboration of Cider Hill Gardens and Gallery and Myth Makers: Donna Dodson & Andy Moerlein. Myth Makers created this piece on site while in residence at Cider Hill, during the first annual outdoor sculpture show. Gary and Sarah Milek have created a visionary garden and indoor gallery in Windsor VT. This year they introduce monumental outdoor sculpture to the gardens, inviting 13 sculptors to contribute work that fits their exceptional setting. Myth Makers welcome commissions.

Alight: The Spirit of the Red Tail Hawk, 15 ft tall, saplings & paint, 2012 by Myth Makers: Andy Moerlein & Donna Dodson
Media Release
Topic: First Group Sculpture Exhibit at Cider Hill Gardens and Gallery
July 13, 2012 - October 28, 2012
Date: July 8, 2012
Contact: Cathryn Brown 802-451-6172 / 802-674-6825, catwithdog@hotmail.com

There is a seemingly magical garden nestled in the glacially carved foothills below Mt. Ascutney where the work of thirteen sculptors is newly installed for a seasonal exhibition. Cider Hill Gardens and Gallery in Windsor, Vermont have been created and tended for over 30 years by Sarah and Gary Milek within an ancient thirty-six acre apple grove. There are shade and sun gardens positioned on and around ledge outcroppings, blooming with hostas, peonies, day lilies and much more. Believing that Cider Hill Gardens is the perfect venue for an outdoor sculptural exhibition, the Mileks have expanded their traditional gallery space to include all the gardens and invited thirteen sculptors to participate in the first major group show here. More than 50 works are situated within the gardens and gallery in materials ranging from ceramic, bronze and wood, to granite and steel. There are monumental works and intimate ones, abstract and figurative.

Andy Moerlein's phenomenal “Journey” greets you as enter into the outdoor exhibition. Within the gardens one can study the very Zen moss and granite boulder carving of Gary Haven Smith nearby the additional granite works of long time independent monument carver John Hikory. The sounds of Eric O’Leary's sculptural fountain may lure you into another area of the garden, while John Cassin's "Flying Woodland Nymph" leads one onward through a field for a closer inspection to see what’s going on beyond the gardens where more sculptures can be discovered within the open rolling fields and woodland edge. Brian Goblik’s work,” Creative Minimalism Minimally Creative” draws one further to the edge of the cultivated areas and the wild woodland beyond which in the open fields the Mythmakers have chosen to construct a “Red Tail Hawk” as their first Vermont work adding to their collection of mythical creatures near “Sky Flower” a monumental work by Herb Ferris. John Kemp Lee and Max Van Pelt have also sited their cutting edge steel and amalgamated works just beyond the garden spaces.

At the main gallery the bold wooden mystic effigies of Donna Dodson greet the audience entering indoors where the gallery walls exhibit works by Varujan Boghosian, known primarily for his sculptures, who has chosen to show ”Twelve Variations on a Theme by Hokusai” a new colorful watercolor series with Gary Milek, whose selected works in egg tempera and gold leaf, are also currently on exhibit at the Belvedere Museum in Vienna. Additionally works by Dimitri Gerakaris and Lawrence Nowlan are also on display Thursdays through Sundays 10:00am until 6:00pm.