Enjoying Summer’s Spectacular End at Newfields

Colorful critters invaded Newfields museum and gardens this summer.  Summer Wonderland: Spectacular Creatures featured giant animal sculptures created from recycled plastic by Cracking Art, an Italian art collective committed to addressing environmental issues like global warming, fossil fuels, and the importance of recycling.  Each lightweight sculpture was fun and colorful, and could be touched by visitors – and even moved around by museum staff – but each also conveyed a serious message about the environment on its accompanying sign. The exhibit ran from June 1 through August 26, and although summer flew by faster than ever, mom and I managed to see the exhibit a week before it closed.

Wolf Pack

Guarding the Lilly House was a pack of yellow wolves plus its orange leader.  A single blue wolf was also hanging out in the Garden for Everyone near the museum.  The pack represents the social nature of the animal’s behavior in hunting, breeding and defense, and the blue “lone wolf” stood for the individual nature and strength of wolves.  Together the wolves symbolized our need to be guardians of the environment and our responsibility to protect it.

Fountain Frogs

Larger than life frogs splashed about amongst real lily pads in the fountain in front of The Three Graces sculpture at the end of the long Allee leading from the Lilly House.  Because of the changes in appearance and habitat they go through during their life cycle, the frogs were meant to symbolize transformation, adapting to new circumstances, and a connection between land and water.

Crocodile Smile

The garden paths contained a few surprise hidden crocodiles! One of the oldest animals on the planet, crocodiles are the closest living relatives of dinosaurs.

Care Bears

In the orchard, bears on ladders were picking apples and other bears were hanging out by the trees and benches.  As people encroach on their natural environments, bears have started foraging for food in urban areas.  Cracking Art first introduced the bear to their animal menagerie twelve years ago following an incident in Europe when a bear who had found his way to the city was seen as a threat and shot to death.

Swallowed Up

Swallows were hanging out in the beer garden by the greenhouse.  Two large kissing swallows hung out by the entrance and dozens of smaller swallows hung from the pergola’s rafters.  Large fans circulating air and bringing relief from the heat to visitors made the birds look like they were flying.  Mom and I enjoyed a lunch break here by splitting snacks sold in the beer garden: a giant pretzel and charcuterie board, with blueberry lemonade for her and iced coffee for me.

Ele-fun

Elephants have been celebrated for centuries, and signify the persistence of nature despite changes in the environment.  Although one of the oldest animal symbols, this elephant is the newest addition to Cracking Art’s animal lineup and this is the first time they’ve exhibited an elephant.  This big guy was holding up the Lilly House!

Sum-meer Fun

Standing sentinel in the formal garden was an alert gang of meerkats.  These adaptive creatures didn’t seem to mind the hot summer weather since they’re able to survive in hostile desert conditions.

Down the Rabbit Hole

This installation was both a colorful tribute to Alice in Wonderland and an environmental warning of the destructive nature of humans on the environment through overpopulation and waste.

Snail’s Pace

In the U.S., snail mail is one of the slowest forms of communication.  But in Italy “snail mail” has quite a different meaning since the word for snail, chiocciola, represents the @ symbol and also stands for email.  A spiral of snails on the Newfields lawn was shaped like the @ symbol to represent communication.

After we wandered the gardens, we escaped the heat and headed indoors to see which animals had invaded the museum.  We were immediately greeted by more snails crawling up the exterior and interior walls of the museum.  The snails symbolized regeneration and a gradual improvement over time.   There was a contest to name the electric blue eight-foot-tall snail in the center of the museum’s entrance pavilion.  Scooter won the popular vote.

Swimming from the Ceiling

As we took the escalator from the museum’s entrance pavilion up to the second floor, we immediately noticed a school of fish swimming suspended from the ceiling.  They are a cheerful sight but represent a serious message: these beautiful creatures are being displaced by ocean pollution.  This sculpture is meant to bring awareness to the big island of plastic trash floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Of People and Penguins

The museum wasn’t that crowded with (human) visitors the day we went, but there were plenty of penguins admiring the art in the galleries! They had escaped the outdoor heat to enjoy the coolest spot at Newfields, which was inside in the air conditioned comfort of the museum.  Penguins overlooked the atrium by peering over the rails of each level of the museum’s third, fourth and fifth floors in every direction. The penguins symbolized global warming and the melting icecaps: despite people’s fondness for penguins, we’re endangering their environment.

The Summer Wonderland exhibit was a fun way to send off summer and enjoy Newfields’ beautiful gardens and greenhouse. I look forward to my next adventure there!