A Garden of Artful Delights!

Over the past 21 years, the Paradise City Arts Festival in Northampton has expanded in both scale and scope the selection of landscape sculpture on display and for sale at the show. This spring’s event introduces some exciting new sculptors and offers work fresh out of the studio by many of the show’s regular exhibitors. While the vast majority of artists show their work inside one of three buildings at the Three County Fairgrounds, the Festival allows sculptors of large-scale and landscape-ready pieces to build their displays in the Courtyard. The outdoor spaces, whether in the Courtyard or installed in the formal Sculpture Garden, are a great way for patrons to visualize this work in their own gardens and landscapes.

Figurative, abstract and sometimes nominally functional, sculpture includes conventional work (from pedestal size to outdoor scale), bas-relief (and other wall-hung pieces) and assemblage – and sometimes an inspired combination. Sculptors work in an almost infinite variety of materials, from the traditional steel, bronze, clay and stone to resin, glass, farm implements and an amazing variety of found objects. Because Sculpture, or 3-D Art, is the end result of pushing the envelope in many other media, this is one of the most exciting categories at Paradise City.

Paradise City invites our exhibiting artists to be extra creative when they submit large-scale outdoor works for the permanently landscaped outdoor Sculpture Garden and the adjoining Courtyard. The Garden also gives artists who normally work in a smaller scale the opportunity to think outside the box. One will even find a jeweler, painter or furniture maker suddenly working large, in stone, metal, wood or mixed media, just to place a piece in the Garden.

Admire life-size animals sculpted in bronze, clay and steel, Zen fountains carved from Vermont granite and beautiful, functional garden furnishings. Stroll through the trees and flowers and admire this season’s artful ideas for your home landscape. Relax in the Garden on a handmade seat with an espresso or ice cream cone. Who knows – that very seat may find a new home in your own backyard.

Attendees are all invited to cast their votes for their favorite works in the outdoor Sculpture Garden and Courtyard. The People’s Choice Awards for Outstanding Outdoor Art will be awarded on Memorial Day, May 30.

From top left, clockwise:
• Dale Rogers: “Bird in Hand”, welded and painted Cor-ten steel
• James O’Neal: “Mermaid and Dolphin”, carved wood,
• Roger DiTarando: “Dancing Pigs”, bronze weathervane topper
• Stephen Procter: “Monumental Bottle”, coiled/thrown stoneware
• Lisa Fedon: “Behind Closed Doors”, welded metal
• Vicente Garcia: “Radial Form”, reclaimed mixed metals
• Whitmore Boogaerts: “Cosmic Directions”, steel and glass
• James Kitchen: “Walking Man”, reclaimed welded steel
• Chris Williams: “Dragon”, bronze on granite pedestal
• Louis Pomerantz: “Garden Fountain”, natural stone