San Francisco based public sculptor Cork Marcheschi creates three large, unique sculptures for the new Healing Garden at the Renown Medical Center in Reno, Nevada.
(1888PressRelease) May 01, 2010 - Reno, Nevada, USA - Cork Marcheschi, San Francisco public artist and fine art sculptor, completed a major project involving three large, intricate pieces for Fianna's Healing Garden at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada, which enabled him to apply the function of art and his experience as a creator of large scale public sculptures to the art of healing.
Construction of the new Tahoe Tower at the Renown Hospital in late 2007 left a space the size of a football field which Jim Miller, President and CEO of the hospital, thought would make a perfect healing garden and help inspire and lighten the load of patients and their families and loved ones as they went through the often traumatic experiences associated with hospitalization. The Healing Garden was named after Fianna, the "plant person" who was the power behind the plantings and the choice of flora for the Healing Garden. Unfortunately Fianna was battling cancer before she embarked on the project and died before the garden was completed, but after she had brought tons of knowledge, experience and work to the garden which now bears her name.
Turkey Stremmel, who with her husband Peter owns and runs the Stremmel Gallery in Reno, was put in charge of the art for both the Tahoe Tower's common areas and190 patient rooms and for the monumental sculptures in Fianna's Healing Garden. She was immediately very impressed with Cork Marcheschi's initial concepts for the sculptures, which rapidly blossomed into three distinctly individual pieces:
The Circle of Squares
The Circle of Squares is a 6 foot diameter metaphor for the hospital, organized, sterile, and consisting of many segments which have to work together to make a whole. The piece draws its inspiration from driving past rows of almond trees in orchards, with the startling effect of the rows appearing and disappearing - very simple and consequently it doesn't get old.
There are 3800 welds in this sculpture. The end sections of each layer are cut to the proper radius of the true sphere. The sphere rotates slowly so someone sitting in the garden can appreciate the visual effect of the structure aligning it self and then spreading out.
The Wind Column
A more traditional sculpture for the garden would have been safe and easy, but invisible. Few people would be moved or even notice a 'standard' bronze or a 'high tech' polished aluminum piece.
Cork Marcheschi likens the Mylar disks to the thousands of souls who have passed through Renown - the soul being light and insubstantial, yet surprisingly robust. It is both intimately tied to light and air and seemingly resonating with some fluid ethereal connection. This sculpture, like the souls it represents, will appear to be in a constant, quivering energy state. The wind column is placed in a reflection pond so the disks are doubled. This piece is a very simple way to visually interpret the breezes and wind. The action is very engaging, like watching waves or clouds.
The Brancusi
The Column That Supports The Sky is a 21' tall sculpture fabricated from stainless steel and blown glass that takes its inspiration from the work of Constantine Brancusi. Brancusi was a deeply spiritual Romanian artist. In what may be his most significant work, the 100' tall Endless Column, he wanted to create a connection between the earthly plane we occupy and the symbolic heavenly sky.
"I found myself wanting to make the same kind of statement The Endless Column makes," says Cork Marcheschi. "I also wanted to honor the work of a great artist."
The sculpture is set in the center of The Wilber D. May Labyrinth. The piece is a compass point for the garden to rotate around and is the center of the meditation that is made when the spiral is walked.
"Each one satisfied above and beyond what I would have even thought to ask," says Turkey Stremmel of Cork Marcheschi's pieces. "I think what I loved was the beauty, the honesty, richness and uniqueness of the pieces."
"To me it's one of the top sculpture projects in Nevada." she continues. 'No one else has done anything like Cork did for the Healing Garden."
The response from patients and visitors to the hospital has been overwhelming. The first person to experience the Healing Garden when it was first opened was an older lady whose husband was undergoing treatment. With tears in her eyes she said, "I've been waiting and waiting and waiting in anticipation so that I can come and walk this garden because I really need to. This is something I've been watching and it's helped me get through this whole process with my husband."
"Cork was an absolute delight to work with," says Turkey Stremmel. "Just one of the best. And it comes from his heart and his mind too. He is so creative. There's a part of Cork that to me is so unlike a lot of other sculptors that I know. There is just a presence and a working mind that can make things come together just so well."
Says Cork of the Renown project, "I wanted to create pieces that had the potential to very gently and naturally engage people in the garden. The situation of spending time in the hospital either as patients or waiting for a loved one can be incredibly stressful. The patterns, actions, simple statements that these sculptures are, attempt to engage without intrusion. This is an opportunity to have art function as a tool for healing."
"The Healing Garden is a new and wonderful focal point on our campus." says Jim Miller, President and CEO of Renown. "It has enhanced the campus experience for our patients, visitors and even our staff. We are so grateful for Cork's vision and talent, and his sculptures delight visitors on a daily basis. The feedback on all fronts has been tremendous."
About Cork Marcheschi
In the last 33 years, Cork Marcheschi has completed over 50 public art projects around the world, each piece unique, original and different. What they have in common is an ingenious use of light and energy. In addition, Cork Marcheschi has been creating and showing fine art sculpture pieces around the USA. He has a retrospective show at the Peninsula Museum of Art in Belmont, CA, July 18 - September 26, 2010 and a show of new work at the Braunstein Quay Gallery in San Francisco from December 16, 2010 into January 2011. Cork's work can be seen at www.corkmarcheschi.com.
San Francisco based public sculptor Cork Marcheschi creates three large, unique sculptures for the new Healing Garden at the Renown Medical Center in Reno, Nevada. 
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