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About Tippet Rise
The Sculptures of Tippet Rise
Creating Unique Relationships Between Land and Sky
The art center’s rolling 10,260 acres are home to an extraordinary diversity of native grasses, wildflowers and wildlife, bucolic herds of sheep and cattle, and eight mammoth works of art.
Two Discs is on gracious loan to Tippet Rise from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Smithsonian Institution’s museum of international modern and contemporary art, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. With dark steel arches that invite viewers to walk beneath it, the mon- umental sculpture is a cornerstone of the Hirshhorn’s collection. As it was the first work of art encountered for many decades by visitors to the Hirshhorn, it is the first to greet visitors to Tippet Rise.
The Stainless Stealer (1966) is the second work by Alexander Calder at Tippet Rise, also on gracious loan from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
A large mobile, 15 feet across, it hangs above the concert area in the Olivier Music Hall. Calder thought of his mobiles as miniature solar systems. Most of them are painted, but this one reflects the human condition around it. We become the residents of this solar system.
Patrick Dougherty’s Daydreams is made from willows gathered by Pete Hinmon and Ben Wynthein from neighboring ranches and streams over several months in the spring and then soaked in a pond to prevent the saplings from sprouting, so Patrick could work with smooth willows. Patrick’s weavings are like Van Gogh’s
frenzied strokes of oil paint, but calmly reasoned and patiently bent into place, anchored around key branches. Patrick had the idea that a schoolhouse would be the perfect canvas, so the contractor, Max Anthon of JxM, copied a nearby structure, down
to its missing shingles, which was then recrafted
by CTA Architects of Bozeman. The shapes of the lounging students are also reminiscent of Provençal bories. Patrick’s labyrinths lie on the surface of
his mazes.
The Inverted Portal was the second of three sculptures created by Ensamble Studio for Tippet Rise. Equal parts shelter, sculpture, and landscape, The Inverted Portal was made from the land beneath it. Its primitive quality, rawness, and geological expression inspire a fascinating exchange with the natural surroundings. Each side of The Inverted Portal weighs over 200 tons. In making this piece, the largest cranes in Montana held the two sides of the sculpture in place while they were fastened together by steel pins.
The Domo is the final installment of Ensamble Studio’s three works for Tippet Rise. Although it seems a part of nature, the Domo was acoustically designed for superior sound projection for our outdoor performances. As a Stone Age plinth, it is the equivalent of a pyramid: an elegant transport into the new life of whatever is placed inside it. It was poured into the land and then excavated by bulldozers. Plastic tarps were used to create the folds in the stone, like a cloak by da Vinci. The top of the Domo has been covered with Montana soil and seeded with native grass species to grow and stretch out toward the big sky.