Wow Place #335: Sapporo Art Park

 

Growing up in the San Francisco suburbs, my family and I went to a lot of movies.  We did long drives.  We ate a lot of dim sum.

 

What we *didn’t* do much is 1) go to art museums, and 2) walk in nature.  Part of that had to do with my Dad, Walter’s, handicap.  Dad contracted polio at the age of 17 and spent most of a year in a New York City hospital.  Although he eventually recovered, due to post-polio syndrome his legs were never the same.

 

As a result, we never camped as a family. We never hiked.  We avoided large museums as well, as they required a lot of walking.  At the time, I never gave it much thought.  It was a happy childhood.

 

You can imagine, however, why – for someone with my upbringing — the Sapporo Art Park (Sapporo Geijutsu no Mori) in Sapporo, Japan was particularly impressive.

 

 

Constructed in 1986, the sprawling, open-air complex was established to “create an environment in which the city, the arts and culture exist in harmony with Sapporo’s natural beauty.”

 

In the complex, one finds an art museum, a children’s sculpting workshop, a café and an outdoor stage.   But for me, the Art Park is all about its Sculpture Garden.

 

Situated along an expansive, hilly circuit, the Sculpture Garden contains 74 sculptures by 64 artists.  For a fairly low fee, you gain admission to the garden and receive what resembles a pirate’s treasure map, sending you on a windy, circuitous route up and down the hillside.   Thick, green pine trees hide the sculptures from view until the last second. In short, you don’t know what new wonder you’re going to encounter until you round the next corner.

 

Lovers intermingled.  Thinkers pondering.  Doves fluttering in midflight. Imposing modern obelisks.  Giraffes doing what giraffes do. (Neck stretching?)  If you like variety, discovery and a large dose of nature, this is the place for you. One of my favorite sculptures is called, “You are my char I am your chair,” by Shideo Toya, featuring a series of interconnected, bright yellow figures – sometimes sitting, sometimes standing.  The Instagram moment here is irresistible – you literally have no choice but to sit in the final lap for the inevitable selfie.

 

I really loved this park. I loved the walking, the exploration, the nature.  It was about as far from the San Francisco suburbs as I could imagine.  I wish my Dad could have seen it with me.  A true, out-of-family experience.

 

(We humans spend a lot of our adulthood either trying to recreate our childhoods, or depart from them dramatically.   Often it’s a mixture of both.  Our relationships, of course, are not immune to this phenomenon.   How often do we choose a partner who is just like one of our parents—or the polar opposite?   Although neither choice is right or wrong, I do wonder if we can somehow escape this pattern. Can’t we somehow treat each new experience, each new relationship, here in the present, with a fresh eye – untethered from both nostalgia and trauma?    Although our childhoods shape us, they don’t have to define us.   As Ram Dass famously said, “Be here now.”)