In a richly illustrated interview, artist Mary Miss describes the creation of a dramatic art installation on the hillside of the Olmsted Brothers-designed Hills & Dales Park in Dayton, OH, in 1979. Miss, trained as a sculptor, began her long career in the early 1970s, producing work that blurs the distinction between art and landscape architecture and reimagines the work of the sculptor in the public realm. Miss created a series of four wooden gates linked by an upward sloping dirt footpath in a forested section of the park. As visitors ascend the pathway the opening between each successive set of gates narrows. In addition to canal locks, the gates recall the wings of a stage set. The framing of the woods beyond the sculpture echoes the relationship between theater-goers and the stage; in this case the performance is the park itself. The project was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and attracted the attention of Second Lady Joan Mondale, who not only visited but used a nail gun to help with some of the construction. Presently, the hillside is deteriorating, and an effort, in collaboration with the artist, is underway to re-site the installation elsewhere in the park.
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