The Art of Collaboration

Our first family vacation in many years brought me to a place I never dreamt I would be. My husband, four-year-old son and I ventured to Taylors Falls, Minn. to take a ride on the Princess paddle boat down the St. Croix River. Throughout the paddle boat tour, our guide gave us a lesson on the history of the river, including a description of Franconia, Minn., a ghost town that had once been a thriving community. I immediately wanted to find this ghost town to take pictures of old dilapidated buildings and rusty door hinges. While we never did find Franconia the ghost town, we did happen upon Franconia Sculpture Park — a place of beauty that is very much alive.

While at the Sculpture Park, we were amazed by the hard work and determination of the artists and their supporters. The park is free and open to the public — from dawn until dusk, 365 days a year. There is a small shed at the opening of the park that states its mission. There is also a free will donation box to keep the Sculpture Park alive.

The park is located smack dab in the middle of a grassy field. There are freshly mowed paths leading to each of the different sculptures in the park and artists feverishly working on their masterpieces with torches and grinders in the back of the park. To the south is a large farm house that refreshes the weary artists after long days of creative work. As we continued our journey on the park path, my son instantly spotted the playground-like art sculpture and began to climb. Could this be? Art that can be enjoyed by kids, too? Yes, it is bigger than life art that is housed outside and can be enjoyed by all!
During our journey through the Franconia Sculpture Park, we came across a sculpture on the walking path. We stood there a moment contemplating, not quite understanding why the sculpture had been placed in that particular spot. Suddenly, golf carts emerged and surrounded us. We again stood there, but this time in wonderment. At that very moment, knew we were about to witness something extraordinary.

We watched eagerly as about a dozen people jumped off their golf carts and began to move towards the beautifully crafted sculpture. A freshly painted, sunny yellow steel-type structure attached to electric blue poles stood before us. I grabbed my camera and decided to capture what I knew was history in the making.

Each of the golf cart riders grabbed an electric blue pole, and with a 1-2-3, they heaved it toward the cloud-covered sky. The leader, who I later learned was the actual artist of the sculpture, was meticulously giving directions as to how the sculpture was to be placed in the ground. With a little work and some wiggle, the sculpture was placed. Cheers of joy and hugs all around. It just happened that I was in the right place at the right time to document this momentous occasion.

As I put my camera down, I reflected on what I had just witnessed — the hard work, determination and pure joy of the moment. One of the golf cart riders shouted to me, “You just witnessed a once-in-a-lifetime event.” I yelled back, “I know, and I documented the whole thing.” My family and I continued along the path to the next sculpture, another one that allowed my four-year-old to practice the art of climbing. My husband followed him up the sculpture, and I sat on the very convenient swing below. Suddenly, I heard the hum of a lone golf cart heading towards us. As it approached, the leader of the freshly placed sculpture jumped off the cart with her eyes wide.

“My name is Risa Puno,” she said. “I am the artist of the sculpture that was just placed.” As she introduced herself, I became almost star-struck. I smiled widely and shook her hand. She then asked me if I had taken pictures of what had just happened. I told her that yes, I took pictures, but didn’t know if they turned out. The artist then handed me her pink business card and said, “Would you please send me the photos if they turn out? It would mean a lot to me.” I obliged, and she got back into the golf cart and zoomed towards her sculpture. I sat back down on the swing and told my husband, “Wow, I feel as a photographer I documented something very important today.” He smiled knowingly and I told him I felt I should go back to the sculpture to take some portraits of the artist, if she would let me. He agreed.

I briskly walked back to Risa Puno’s sculpture and interrupted her creative moment to ask her if I could take her portrait. She was hesitant at first, but I promised it was worth the effort and wanted her to be able to remember this happy moment. She agreed, after persistence from me, and I took a couple of quick photographs of her with her sculpture. After exchanging a few knowing smiles, we parted ways.

Once my family and I got home from vacation, I was excited to get my pictures uploaded to my computer and into Adobe Lightroom. I wanted to see if the amazing experience I took pictures of at the Franconia Sculpture Park were in focus and worth sending to Risa. After looking through the 19 photographs, I realized they were good photos! I feverishly developed them and packaged them up to get ready to send. I sent an email to Risa and told her that I would place her photos in Dropbox, since the files were quite large. I wanted to give her the ability to enlarge the photos for her portfolio if she deemed them worthy.

As a photographer, that was one of the most memorable experiences of my freelance career. To be able to assist a fellow artist in her life-long dream gave me great joy. To have the opportunity to work with a talented artist in such a spontaneous way was a once-in-a-lifetime shot. I now truly understand the art of collaboration.

Information about Franconia Sculpture Park can be found here: http://www.franconia.org/ and http://franconiablog.wordpress.com/about/
Learn more about Risa Puno and her artwork: http://www.risapuno.com/
Photographs of Betsy Armour's Franconia Sculpture Park adventure can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/betsyarmourimages?ref_type=bookmark

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