Sun Farm is multidisciplinary project/place and experiential garden created by architects/artists Daniela Bertol and David Foell. The site is located in Claverack, New York, about North of New York City, and includes land art constructions, geoglyphs, architectural fabrications and sculptures: The shaping of the landscape and structures is oriented to solar and celestial alignments, in a dual effort to capture the sun's energy and to celebrate the cosmos. The work unveils as a built philosophical statement of awareness of being in time and part of a system. The Sun's daily path—from sunrise to sunset and its disappearing at night—is represented, literally and metaphorically, by two spirals connected by a ¾ of mile long axis. East Spiral, located at the east end of the axis, represents the day, metaphor of the beginning of human life. Sun Axis stretches in the east–west direction and is defined by photovoltaic panels, linked to the energy grid; it ends in West Spiral, representation of the sunset and night. A naked eye observatory for night stars defines the center of the spiral. Initial constructions—already realized—include:
East Spiral, an excavated pond, shaped as a logarithmic spiral and surrounded by a mound; the center of East Spiral represents the Axis Mundi of Sun Farm;
East West a geoglyph aligned to an east–west axis;
North Arrow, a metal sculpture parallel to the Earth axis;
Meditation Path—a north–south gravel path framed by a tree-trunk arch, with a timber sculpture Time Helix, as focal point;
Time Helix, a helix sculpture based on 108 rotations of a timber module;
North-South, East-West, Up-down, a tensegrity sculpture aligned to the four cardinal axes;
Sunrise Trellis, a structure framing the sunrise at the equinoxes;
Square Field, a rock and gravel garden based on geometric progression;
Noon Columns, a long sundial / sculpture;
Solstice Monument: the Helix, a helix shaped arch, aligned to the sunrise at the winter solstice and the sunset at the summer solstice.
Sun Farm is envisioned as an outdoor art center and energy farm, a series of events in a place available to communities as a showcase of alternative energy sources as well as an educational art and nature destination. The viewing of the main artwork—the intersecting spirals path—develops at different layers of perception. Art becomes a participatory event leading to a spiritual experience, where the observer is led by views of the sky in the Sun's daily path/cycle. Walking along the path will provide a different layer of interpretation, as a walking meditation, with a direct experience of the metaphors of spirals / time / sun path / life. Sun Farm was inspired by the holistic model of eastern philosophies / practices and the connection with cosmological events which was present in early cultures, where traditional people used interventions in the landscape as a means of interpreting celestial events.
The site of Sun Farm is in the Hudson Valley, a geographic region celebrated in the paintings of the nineteenth century Hudson River School, for its landscapes, dramatic skies, sunrises and sunsets. The framing of the sky created by the structures in Sunset Farm echoes the intention of those paintings and brings a contemporary interpretation to the perception of the landscape.
