“Chaplets? Arise at North Dakota Museum of Art

Thursday, 03 August 2006 09:42

Grand Forks, ND - Six small chapels sprung up amid the peonies and granite sculpture in the garden of the North Dakota Museum of Art on August 1, 2006.  The project is the collaborative work of painter Marjorie Schlossman and architects Michael Burns, Joel Davy, Jef Foss, Richard Moorhead and sons Granger and Robert, Julie Rokke, and Philip Stahl.

A New York jazz trio; string players from the Fargo Moorhead Symphony Orchestra; a second exhibition of paintings, architectural drawings, models and plans; and busses filled with Fargo art supporters converged on the Museum Garden to celebrate the event.

Some might refer to it as “Fargo Night in Grand Forks”.  Over a year ago Schlossman decided to commission local Fargo architects to design small spiritual spaces that would serve as a locus for her art.  The North Dakota Museum of Art agreed to help facilitate the project, named after Schlossman’s first chapel on Roberts Street in Fargo, ND.  Because these little chapels are designed to be moved around the region, they soon became known as “Chaplets.”

Marjorie Schlossman commissioned these architects to create spaces that “inspire, comfort and delight the individual visitor.”  Once the building was complete, Schlossman made paintings in response to each structure, to the light, the viewing distance, the angles and materials, and the architectural references.

Inspiration came to the architects from many places.  The Chaplet conceived by Richard Moorhead & Sons is based upon the Calistoga wagon used by settlers on their long treks west.  Joel Davy’s Chaplet suggests a modest farm building such as the corncrib interpreted through a Japanese aesthetic.  Jef Foss’s Chaplet reflects ever-present sails tacking across Minnesota’s Pelican Lake where he has a summer home.  Michael Burns, who believes that the spiritual is found in simplicity, combined darkened slatted-wood walls with translucent plastic panels to create a pool of glowing light for the central painting.

Julie Rokke has spent years thinking about what comprises a spiritual place.  She and her colleagues at YHR Partners, Ltd. have worked on over 100 churches.  Of all the churches she has worked on her favorite remains the Holy Spirit Church in St. Cloud, MN. According to Rokke, “it is about light and it is just beautiful.” 

Philip Stahl’s Chaplet is defined by its elegant roof, a long gradual curve with doors at either end.  The visitor enters the long narrow confine, passes through panels of translucent plastic on one side, three paintings on the other.  Ground underneath.  Across from the painted panels is a spot to rest.

The artist gave the architects great freedom to develop their own concepts of what a chaplet might be.  For example, the Moorhead father-and-sons collaboration is open to the sky with the artist’s painting on the floor below.  Schlossman set a few parameters: Each architect needed to provide a surface for the artist to paint, either directly onto the structure or on stretched canvas that could be mounted.

According to Museum Director Laurel Reuter, ”The North Dakota Museum of Art is committed to both the commission and exhibition of works of art by living artists. Not only does it infuse vitality into our regional art community, it enhances the growing body of art anchored in our own place and time.”

The Roberts Street Chaplet Project will be on display in the North Dakota Museum of Art garden through Sunday, September 10.  On September 17, it will open at West Acres in Fargo.

The North Dakota Museum of Art is the official art museum of the State of North Dakota.

Visit : http://www.ndmoa.com/