The Cape Portals & Passageways Exhibit is an environmental sculpture and art exhibition on display at Highfield Hall and Gardens through September.
Cape Portals & Passagways Exhibit at Highfield Hall.
The show features the art of twenty-five artists from this region.The installations include a variety of disciplines that include fiber art, landscape design, bronze sculpture, glass blowing, painting and photography. The exhibit is a walking tour that starts inside the mansion and continues outside through the grounds.
Linda Hoffman’s “Tree Om” was the inspiration for the show and can be viewed on the lawn. Alfie Glover’s twelve-foot tall aluminum sculpture, ” The spirits of the Garden” can be seen in the center of the sunken garden in front of Highfield Hall.
One of the most interesting sculptures is the “Fragment House”. It is a small steel framed house and its walls are made of sea glass that is woven with wire.
Celestial Passage Walking Labyrinth:” Spirit, Space and Time” comes next. The creator and installer is Dan DiNardo who is Highfield’s director of facilities. It is located behind the mansion and it is forty feet in diameter and is a meditative walking labyrinth that is based on the geometry of the classic seven-circuit labyrinth and is complete with hewn wood seats placed at the four compass points. The seats were created by tree specialist Matt Inman in collaboration with David Chapman. Inman also created a large-scale arbor of woven sticks.
“Crystal Vision Earth Portal” was created by Cynthia Rose. It is nestled on the grounds on the “Beach Tree Path” and provides a haven for renewal and reflection. The circular rock formation with accents of crystal is designed to promote contemplation and recognition of the earth’s energy that is released through this portal.
Angela Tanner created, “A wind in the Door”. It is designed to be a fairy tale door that announces the presence of things unseen. When the door is open it allows humans and other earthly creatures to pass. When it is closed fairies and spirits and other wind born creatures can move through it. The doors panels tinkle and shimmer as evidence of their presence. The garden gate leads to the “Rhodie Dell”.
Jon Moore, a photographer who created a portal to the past. He applied vintage images of the Beebe family to stones along the path of “Rhodie Dell” for his installation titled “Spirits in the Stones, Past Presence”.
Gypsy’s Staircase by Amy Ragus.
Connecting Tanner’s gate and Moor’s “Past Presence” is the beautiful stone “Gypsy’s Staircase” that was designed by Amy Ragus.
In the “Rhodie Dell”, is the very lovely, “Water study in Silk and White Pine” by Sarah Peters and “Asylum Grove” by John Cira.
After the “Rhodie Dell”, viewers enter the “West Garden” where they are told that they “Only Have to Change Utterly to Enter “. There they walk under Sally Mavor’s “Hither and Yon” sculpture and on to the “Beach Tree Path”. There they see “Whose Woods These Are”, by Andrea Tompson, “Pan’s Portico” by Ben Silva and “Invasives” by Basia Goszczynska.
This is an enchanting show and one only needs his or her imagination to enjoy it completely.
The Cape Portals and Passageways Exhibit can be found at:
Highfield Hall (5 minute walk from the Palmer House Inn)
56 Highfield Dr, Falmouth, MA 02540
tel. (508) 495-1878
www.highfieldhall.org
Cape Cod’s Roosevelt Room, B
Cape Cod’s Emily Dickinson Room Five
While all of the bedchambers at the Palmer House have their own charming retreat before and after the most wonderful day of adventures exploring the portals and passageways of Cape Cod, we recommend the Emily Dickinson room, the Harriet Beecher Stowe room, or the Theodore Roosevelt room. These rooms feature comfortable king beds, cozy fireplaces, and soothing jetted tubs for a relaxing stay before and after your day.