SCULPTURE GARDEN
ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM

SCULPTURE GARDEN
ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM

"Hold" by Alonso Sierralta

The Anderson Center launched its Sculpture Garden Engagement Program with the August 17, 2020 installation of a new sculpture by Alonso Sierralta, a Chilean-born, Minnesota-based artist and educator. Thanks to support from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council, Alonso led three hands-on workshops in May of 2021 with 13 high school students participating in after school programs coordinated Hispanic Outreach of Goodhue County & Red Wing Youth Outreach. A capstone reception to honor Alonso's sculpture and share the sculptures students created took place Saturday, May 22, 2021 in the Anderson Center Sculpture Garden.

Alonso Sierralta moved from Chile to the United States when he was fourteen, and studied in Nebraska before settling in NE Minneapolis. He has an MFA from the University of Nebraska. He has received several awards, including a Next Step grant from the McKnight Foundation, and his work has been featured throughout MN and in numerous national shows. Sierralta has public work on display at Stevens Point Sculpture Park, in Stevens Point, WI, and at Silverwood Park, in St. Anthony, MN.

"Hold" Sculpture by Alonso Sierralta
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Entitled Hold, this new sculpture combines natural and man-made materials to channel Alonso's experience of cultural transplantation into powerful metaphors for growth, challenge, pain and adaptation. The tension, contradiction, and contrast created by pairing organic materials with manufactured ones evokes the mixed emotions of optimism & fear that accompany giving up the familiar and provides an inclusive opportunity to examine the issue of immigration from a fresh & visually expressive perspective.

Migration and moving from one place to another plays a large role in Sierralta’s sculptures, which he usually puts together using wood and resin while adding many natural and organic materials, such as seeds, grass, roots and other things. Among his favorite spots for finding sculpture materials is along the Mississippi Riverbanks. That use of natural materials, along with his interest in exploring form, shape and volume, draws comparisons to work done by artists such as David Nash & Richard Deacon.

Entitled Hold, this new sculpture combines natural and man-made materials to channel Alonso's experience of cultural transplantation into powerful metaphors for growth, challenge, pain and adaptation. The tension, contradiction, and contrast created by pairing organic materials with manufactured ones evokes the mixed emotions of optimism & fear that accompany giving up the familiar and provides an inclusive opportunity to examine the issue of immigration from a fresh & visually expressive perspective.

Migration and moving from one place to another plays a large role in Sierralta’s sculptures, which he usually puts together using wood and resin while adding many natural and organic materials, such as seeds, grass, roots and other things. Among his favorite spots for finding sculpture materials is along the Mississippi Riverbanks. That use of natural materials, along with his interest in exploring form, shape and volume, draws comparisons to work done by artists such as David Nash & Richard Deacon.

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The Sculpture Garden Engagement Program helped area youth develop skills, knowledge and understanding of the arts through hands-on workshops & mentorship with Alonso, a bilingual speaker and art professor for nearly two decades. Combing both man-made and natural materials, the pieces the students created with Alonso reflected their own perspectives while also mirroring the techniques and tension in Alonso's work. Overall the program fostered meaningful exchange across the community through Alonso's new piece in the Anderson Center Sculpture Garden.

Learn more about Alonso Sierralta and his sculptures via the links below.

The Sculpture Garden Engagement Program is made possible by a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

"Hold" Sculpture by Alonso Sierralta