POAM sculpture park

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moonlit sculpture park on 08|11|2006

the sculptor giving a guided tour in his sculpture park around Penttilä

POAM - one of the three sculpture parks set up by the sculptor

Sculpture exhibitions in the public space have been the sculptor's concern since the early seventies when he was asked to join the board of the Dutch Sculptors' Association by its chairman, Paul van Crimpen. During his work there, this association organized the Amsterdam Amstelpark triennials and the Floriade sculpture exhibitions among other open air sculpture presentations. In 1990 he started developing his idea to create an international sculpture park in the Drechtstreek area where he was living at that time. For the second time, in 1992, after a leave of seven years he was again offered the function of secretary of the association and combined his efforts for the creation of the sculpture park with his function as secretary.

After five years of preparation and a year of cooperation with the sculptors association the sculpture park was realized in the Dordrecht area. In 1996 Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands opened the Open Air Museum, Drecht Banks Sculpture Park, OpAM (is its acronym).

During his forty year career in Holland, the sculptor lived in- and worked for the urban space. As is quite usual in Dutch cities and towns, the front door opens onto the street and there are no back yards. Therefore he had no space to accommodate his larger works and, between exhibitions, they had to be stored. Friendly farmers accommodated his works in orchards and sheep pastures in nearby villages. In 1985 the city of Dordrecht granted him the use of the large Sterrenburg Park for a decade - there the sculptures were not only stored but had an optimal presentation. It was from there, in 1995, that they were transported to Kajaani Finland, where the sculptor had his large retrospective exhibition in the Kajaani Museum of Art.

At Penttilä, for the first time in his career, he was able to have his own works exhibited on the grounds surrounding his house and studios. Before this he would have to make special trips to various locations to see and photograph his different works. He would be dependant on the given weather conditions of the day on which he could visit them. Now they are always there and can be viewed daily by everyone - in all seasons and 24 hours a day. For an artist it is very important (and inspiring) to have his work around him.

See more about the installation of sculptures in POAM sculpture park, an acronym for Penttilä Open Air Museum. The works can all be viewed on his POAM sculpture park website, where these pages give an impression of this installation of sculptures.

At present his second international sculpture park is growing in Haukivuori, Finland. The Finnish Open Air Museum (FOAM) is located on top of Europe's largest monolith, Saksalan Harju. It presents an international collection of sculptures which are made on location by sculptors - from various countries - participating in sculpture symposiums organized by Saksala ArtRadius and FOAM.