Take in the natural and artistic beauty at Andres Institute
By Zachary Lewis
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The Andres Institute of Art (106 Route 13, Brookline) sits on the site of a former ski lodge and granite quarry and consists of 140 acres, 12 miles of trail, and countless opportunities to encounter the sublime on a hike through art and nature. It’s “a beautiful setting, it’s gorgeous,” said Kristi St. Laurent, President of the Institute.
Andres was founded in 1998 by engineer philanthropist Paul Andres and Master Sculptor John Weidman. In 1999 they held the first International Annual Bridges and Connections Sculpture Symposium, which is where typically around three sculptors from all over the world are invited to Brookline for a few weeks to create magnificent sculpture.
Andres Institute of Art also hosts an art gallery and performance space for a myriad styles of music, from bluegrass to jazz to classical, a decision made to reflect the wide array of artistic styles represented here.
“The former ski lodge is now our welcome center,” St. Laurent said.
One hundred sculptures are on permanent display, made by artists hailing from 50 different countries. The trails where the sculptures are placed are open for free to the public any day of the year.
“You can just park your car and walk the trails,” St. Laurent said. “You don’t have to come here planning on doing 12 miles. There really is too much to see in one day, definitely.” On the Institutes’s website is a link to the app and website Trailforks, which contains a detailed map of the trails. Maps can be downloaded, or can be picked up on location.
The studio is set up for metal and stone work.
“It’s just John that’s working in the studio except for during the symposium; then the visiting artists are there,” St. Laurent said. In 2023, Weidman received the New Hampshire Governor’s Arts Award for Distinguished Leadership.
Weidman has lately been building a cupola, a furnace that can melt iron, for the 2024 Spring Iron Melt, set to take place on Saturday, June 1. Another Melt takes place in the fall.
For the Melt, essentially, participants purchase a mold, which is a 12- by 12-inch “brick” that has a 6- by 6-inch square inset that designs can be carved into with a “nail” provided by the Institute or with their own tools. On the day of the pour, each mold is coated in graphite to ease the eventual iron release, “which is like spraying a cooking pan … so that your brownies come out of the pan,” St. Laurent said. Once the iron is poured, what’s left is a half-inch-thick, 6-inch by 6-inch iron tile. “It has their design cast into it…. Some people bought them as Christmas presents.”
Details on how to sign up for future Iron Melts are on the Andres website.
The trails at Andres transform with the arrival of spring and summer.
“The change in the park in just the last week with all the leaves coming out and the flowers, it’s so beautiful,” St. Laurent said. “Even when the parking lot is full you still might not run into anybody. … It’s nice and quiet and peaceful. It’s a great place to take kids.”
More field trips are heading to Andres as well.
“I ask the kids, ‘What are the normal rules at a museum?’ and they’re like, ‘No running, we have to be quiet, don’t touch anything.’ and I said, ‘All those rules are out the window!’ and they love it. You can run, you can be loud, you can touch the art, you can take a selfie with it, you can climb on it, it’s great,” St. Laurent said. This rule applies no matter which direction or trail is taken, and apart from the art, the world around it can be considered an installation piece.
“The money view is up at the summit with the sculpture called the Phoenix, and that was from the very first symposium…. You can look out and see Mt. Monadnock and some of the other mountains in the distance and it’s absolutely gorgeous,” she said. Dogs on-leash are welcome to sniff and zoom with their owners here too.
St. Laurent’s favorite sculpture sits on the quarry trail near the quarry pond: “A human figure made out of rebar and other types of metal. I just love that one. That one’s called ‘Monument [II].’ It’s actually by a woman artist, Alexandra Limpert from New York…. Although there are many, many close runner-ups.”
In an artist statement about that piece, Limbert said she aimed to “translate the human form into metal lines, grids and compartments. This random vocabulary defines the entity beneath the façade. The exposed construction of each piece also reveals my process. Much like architecture under construction, my sculptures are anonymous monuments in states of transition.”
Encountering all the beauty, man-made and from nature, is what the Andres Institute of Art wants for their visitors.
“Part of the mission of the Andres is to get people in contact with art,” St. Laurent said. “That’s what we’re trying to do on a daily basis: art and nature.”
Spring Iron Melt 2024
Where: 106 Route 13, Brookline
When: Saturday, June 1, approximately from noon to 1 p.m.
More: andresinstitute.org, 673-7441