Oakland Museum Sculpture Court

1111 Broadway
Oakland, California

Meadowsweet Dairy

The beauty inherent in natural objects is revealed in the exhibition Meadowsweet Dairy: Wood Sculpture at the Oakland Museum of California Sculpture Court at City Center, 1111 Broadway, Oakland. The exhibition runs from May 15 to September 15, 2000, and admission is free.

The 12 sculptures on exhibit are made of various woods, including redwood and partially burned white bark pine, on footings of steel and stone. The materials, once found and salvaged, are minimally altered by the artists. The idea is to reveal the beauty of the piece rather than to dramatically alter its physical appearance.

The group (or, as they prefer to be called, the artist) Meadowsweet Dairy, named after the former dairy in Corte Madera that since 1991 has housed the artists' studio and exhibition space, began as the brainchild of Henry Corning and Sam Bower. The four artists of Meadowsweet Dairy—Bower, Corning, Glenda Griffith and Alan Leavitt—work collaboratively on found natural objects to create sculpture and site-specific installations. They say of their work, "The roots, logs, fragments and stumps we select for our studio sculpture show the cumulative effect of forest fires and chainsaws, the waters that scattered and brought them to us, and the sandy, rocky shores which rounded and scoured them. After handling and studying a piece of wood, we intervene to present it as sculpture." This intervention may include charring, carving, sanding or coating areas of the object, or it may be left virtually as is.

The artists of Meadowsweet Dairy come from varied backgrounds. Sam Bower is a former designer of environmental education materials, a painter, puppeteer and community activist. Henry Corning has been a cabinetry contractor, businessman, woodworker, painter and environmental activist. Glenda Griffith is a former healing arts professional, landscaper and project administrator. Alan Leavitt is a former Chief of Mental Health for San Francisco and Berkeley, psychiatric social worker, documentary filmmaker and woodworker.