DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A nationally renowned outdoor art piece will be deleted of a park pond in Des Moines under a settlement announced Tuesday, end a legal battle between the New York artist who created the work decades ago and a local art center that claimed it could not afford the necessary repairs to the site.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Des Moines Art Center will pay $900,000 to artist Mary Miss, who put an end to his efforts to block the removal of his work, Greenwood Pond: Double Site. The art center will remove the work as soon as possible, although efforts may be delayed by Iowa’s cold, wintry weather.
Miss and the art center agreed as part of the settlement not to disparage each other, but the head of an organization that sought to preserve the artwork expressed disappointment at its impending removal.
Charles A. Birnbaum, president and CEO of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, said in a statement that what happened to the work could and should have been avoided.
However, he said, “the institution that commissioned the environmental sculpture for its permanent collection appears to have failed as a proper custodian and manager of this widely acclaimed and influential work of art, which constitutes a function and a fundamental responsibility.
Greenwood Pond: Double Site was completed in 1996 on the banks of a pond in a historic city park just west of downtown Des Moines. The artwork, located down a hill from the art center, is made up of wooden walkways, shelters and viewing sites that encourage people to see and interact with nature.
Although known locally as a spot for picnics and family photos, the artwork was celebrated nationally and considered a career highlight for Miss, a rare female artist in the field predominantly male landscape architecture.
Since its creation, the largely wooden artwork has required periodic repairs due to Iowa’s frigid winters and hot, humid summers. However, Miss was surprised when the art center blocked access to parts of the work in early 2024, then informed her that it would be removed due to the multi-million dollar cost of repair and maintenance of structures.
Miss expressed optimism that the work could be saved, and she eventually filed a lawsuit to block its removal, pointing out that her contract with the art center required her approval to demolish the structures.
“I would be shocked if he was just ripped away,” Miss said in February 2024. “He doesn’t deserve it. People don’t deserve this to happen.
In a statement following the agreement, Miss expressed hope that the dispute would encourage closer ties between artists, communities and cultural institutions. Miss will be the first donor to a new public art defense fund created by the Cultural Landscape Foundation to highlight and preserve landscape art.
The art center released a statement confirming the deal but did not respond to a request for details on the timeline for removing the artwork. The center had earlier announced that it planned a roughly three-month process to bring heavy equipment to the site, drain the pond to allow access to infrastructure and build new trails.