A ten-foot-tall pyramid made of hundreds of thin tree branches has been installed in the Gallery’s Margaret and Angus Wurtele Sculpture Garden. Monument (Pyramid), a 2022 work by the prominent contemporary sculptor Maren Hassinger, entered the museum’s permanent collection earlier this year. Monument (Pyramid) highlights the importance of community engagement in the artist’s practice, as Hassinger and her studio collaborated with first-year Yale students and museum staff in its construction and installation. In addition, the Gallery partnered with Gather New Haven, which manages the Quinnipiac Meadows Eugene B. Fargeorge Preserve, to collect the branches from an invasive tree species. In clearing approximately 25 buckthorn trees, the project helped preserve the natural landscape just across the Quinnipiac River from downtown New Haven.
Over the course of her 50-year career, Hassinger has engaged with intersecting ideas about the environment, community, and identity. Learn more about the artist in the fall 2024 magazine (PDF).