Sculptures take shape on Main Street

Ivoryton (WTNH) - A drive through the Essex village of Ivoryton just got more interesting. Sculptures now line a mile of Main Street.

"Oh, I think they're gorgeous," said Janet Dowling of Centerbrook. "I get such a kick out of driving by and seeing all the different ones I'm just discovering."

Members of the Hollycroft Foundation, who are responsible for installing nearly 30 of the works around town, hope people will park and walk. It is making the experience a more intimate look at the variety of sculptures.

"Some abstract, some might be called non-objective, some figurative and all of those including scale are very important," said Fred Osborne of Hollycroft Foundation.

The mostly-metal sculptures are donated by artists from Maine to North Carolina. A horse captured in mid-stride is a work by Elliott Offner from Smith College.

"It is the life that is within the horse that he is capturing and he's capturing it not only with the physical reality of the horse but the motion," said Hollycroft.

"I get a lot of enjoyment looking at them," said Centerbrook resident Janet Dowling.

The sculptures come in all shapes and sizes. Some just needed to be rolled in while others had to be installed with a crane. And, you can touch them.

The so-called 'Living Museum' is free to the public. The foundation paid about $30,000 to install and promote the outdoor exhibit which will change every year or so. It's all about the new pieces and new experiences.

"We hope that as they go from one to the next, and like one and don't like the next, and are puzzled by the third, that the mix that comes out of that will be one that is very stimulating to them," said Hollycroft.

For more information please visit Hollycroft .