Site & Cite
Ellen Rutt & Aaron Glasson
Summer Solstice 2023
https://www.ellenrutt.com / https://aaronglasson.com
Cedar North is excited to invite you to Site & Cite: a collection of sketches, questions and visions for the Sculpture Park at Cedar North created by Ellen Rutt and Aaron Glasson.
Like a walk through the pages of a sketchbook, Site & Cite will feature drawings, notes, thoughts, photos, material samples and formal studies that will inform the design of a first-of-its-kind sculpture garden in Cedar.
The Sculpture Park at Cedar North will be located in the center of the former racetrack adjacent to the studios and gallery in Leelanau County, MI. This park will be an experimental playspace for all ages co-created by the artists in collaboration with J2 Farms. Guided by an ongoing investigation into play as a pedagogy for life and joy as an antidote to the imminent pressures of climate change, this outdoor park endeavors to provide a place for endless exploration and leisure. The racetrack, once a vibrant space of competition and spectacle, has sat largely unused for many years. Through earth-mounding, native plant gardens, and sculptural elements, art and land will work together to transform the place into a landscape that is both reflective of its past and a revised dreamscape for the imagination. We envision that the park will come alive over time through special community events like live performances, poetry readings, and dinners alongside everyday use for games, foot races, hide and seek, picnics, reading, contemplation and more.
Living somewhere between a life-sized moodboard and a cabinet of curiosities, Site & Cite invites the surrounding community to contribute visions of their own to the artists’ assemblage of their influences, ideas, and inspiration for the sculpture park. Community input is vital to community spaces: by presenting in-progress work and transparently sharing the process of creating the sculpture park, the artists hope to become shaped by the unique landscape and people of Cedar.
The artists take seriously their commitment to knowing and honoring the people, local ecologies, and materials that surround the future sculpture park. Since 2021, when the artists first visited the farm, Rutt, who lives in Detroit, frequently returned to Cedar North to build a relationship with the land and get to know the place and people in each season. Rutt and Glasson, who lives in the desert outside of Joshua Tree, CA, met weekly on zoom to discuss ideas and share resources with one another and with the farm.
Site & Cite is the first event in what is sure to be an exciting series to unfold over the coming years. In conversation with the growing permaculture farm and the people, plants, animals, and art that give it life, this exhibition continues our collective effort to invigorate the place, centers community, art, and ecology, and kicks off our most ambitious pursuit yet.
We have big dreams for this place and it will take a community - locals and visitors alike - to make them a reality. As the plan develops, there will be opportunities to contribute in a variety of ways. Please sign up and follow along for future events, updates, and opportunities to get involved!
