Maren Hassinger’s Monument (Pyramid) Debuts at the Gallery

A sculpture of tree branches stacked in a three-dimensional pyramid. The work is seen outdoors.

Maren Hassinger, Monument (Pyramid), 2022. Wood and metal. Yale University Art Gallery, Janet and Simeon Braguin Fund. © Maren Hassinger.

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).

Project Timeline: September 2024

Week One: Gather New Haven volunteers harvest and gather buckthorn branches at Quinnipiac Meadows Eugene B. Fargeorge Preserve

Week Two: Branches delivered and stored at the Gallery

Week Three: Sculpture framework constructed and weighted with steel plates

Week Four: Hassinger Studio assistants, student volunteers, and museum staff install Monument (Pyramid)

Watch the work being installed at the Gallery.

Hassinger returns to the museum for a public conversation on January 30, 2025.