Minister’s Column
This week I drove to Crystal Mountain, 100 miles northwest from Mount Pleasant, and visited the Michigan Legacy Art Park there. Many Michiganders that I know have never heard of this place, so I guess it is something of a hidden gem.
The Legacy Art Park is a collection of dozens of sculptures in the woods, accessible by a meandering series of trails. There is a sense of anticipation and discovery to the experience, as you come upon one piece of art after another—some very large, some blending in with the natural surroundings—while progressing along the trail. The signage that accompanies each piece is especially good: comprehensive and thought-provoking, many ending with a question to ponder. Another favorite feature of the Park was that dozens of rocks along the trail were engraved with poetry. Combined with a crisp fall day, the whole experience was aesthetically and spiritually satisfying.
Two of the sculptures especially moved me. One was the signature piece to the whole Park, an installation called Stockade Labyrinth by David Barr. The sculpture consists of rough stockade-style fencing, at least nine feet high, through which the viewer walks as through a maze or labyrinth. Within the turns of the labyrinth are smaller works of art, all connected to the European settlers and their conquest the land: an exhibit about war with cannonballs; a piece about the lumber trade with stylized saws. The whole piece was a thought-provoking and disturbing artistic record of this period in history. Walking through the labyrinth was a bit chilling, to feel that I was stepping into the shoes of European settlers making war with the land and with the native people.
The other sculpture that particularly moved me was a total contrast to Stockade Labyrinth. Serpent Mound by Patricia Innis is just what it sounds like: a mound of earth in the shape of a serpent winding through the trees. The work is an homage to the serpent mound in Ohio built by residents of this land hundreds of years ago, and to the hundreds of other mounds that this culture created: some still in existence, many destroyed. Whenever I am reminded of this history of the people who thrived in this land centuries ago, I reflect that this history is hidden in our educational system. When I was in school, I learned more about the civilizations of people across the oceans (like the Egyptian pharaohs) than I did about the Native Americans in the land I was born in. The artist Patricia Innis is an educator, and her Serpent Mound sculpture contains within it clay figures created by Michigan students – a further homage to the traditional mound builders centuries ago who had this practice.
These were just two of the dozens of sculptures I viewed at Legacy Art Park. Like all good art, these pieces made me reflect and invited me to see things in a new way. Thought-provoking art; a beautiful drive across Michigan on a fall day; and discovering a place I had never visited: these are joys in life that I am lucky to partake of.
PRAYER:
May the artists and the supporters of Legacy Art Park be blessed
May the art work endure.
May the visitors be challenged and inspired by the sculptures and poems.
May art thrive here and everywhere.
Blessed be.
Rev. Drew Frantz
October 25, 2023