A Trail That Begins With Innocence

From the pages of our August 2022 Issue.

Sculptor Andrew DeVries’s career spans four decades, and he is most widely recognized for his depiction of ballet dancers in bronze. Many are familiar with his gallery that was open in Lenox for 29 years. His works now can be found at the artist’s River Studios in Middlefield, a short drive from the Berkshires. The site includes a Sculpture Trail—a lifelong dream of his—with 38 sculptures placed on 15 acres. The trail wends along the middle branch of the Westfield River; at the beginning of the walk is a bronze sculpture he calls Innocence. This is DeVries’ description of the work, pictured above: “I created the first version of Innocence, a floating female figure sculpture in bronze, in 1993. The sculpture was inspired by a vision that I received after posing this question, ‘What would show the true innocence that we all carry within us?’ With that in mind, I saw a woman’s figure floating unfettered by gravity. In order to achieve this, I used the hair as the ballast that allows the sculpture to ‘float freely’ in the air. I began working on the larger version in 2008.” A collector who commissioned DeVries in the final stages of the sculpture requested that the work rise higher for a particular view that he had for its placement. “This is when I sculpted the additional hair in order to increase the height. That added an element to the work which gives a feeling of levitation.” The current sculpture, mounted on a 1,600-pound rough granite slab, is the third in an edition of six. The trail and gallery are open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through mid-October.
andrewdevries.com

—Anastasia Stanmeyer