Ripple Effect

As part of the Montshire's 40th anniversary, the Montshire Museum of Science commissioned Vermont artist and master stoneworker Dan Snow to create a sculpture to transform the entryway of the Museum. This exciting new sculpture is now open to view and for exploration by Museum visitors.

Dan Snow is an internationally-recognized artist. From the practical to the fantastic, Snow’s works in stone combine a contemporary vision with old−world techniques and traditions to create environmental art.

water droplet The sculpture, titled Ripple Effect, encapsulates the Montshire’s mission of engagement and discovery — signaling to visitors the excitement they will find inside the Museum and across its 100 acres, as well as showcasing the Montshire’s commitment to art and science, and the important connections between them. The 1,000-square-foot sculpture was created using thirty tons of Vermont and New Hampshire stone, and is an interactive representation of the intersection of the waves formed by drops of water into a pond—at an enormous scale, and rendered in individually-shaped stones and stainless steel.

“I believe the sight of a new dry stone construction on the land is a sign of a healthy community,” says Snow. “When loose stone is collected and arranged, conversations take place.” Artist Dan Snow

Museum visitors were able to watch Snow create the piece over the course of several months in the summer of 2016, stone by stone. The completed artwork is now open for contemplation and exploration by Museum visitors, and was created with the intention that it could be walked upon and experienced kinesthetically. A section of it is designed to give visitors who use wheelchairs the ability to be in the center of the sculpture, among the ripples.

This sculpture was made possible by donors to the David Goudy Discovery Fund.

In the news: Here in Hanover magazine ran a feature about the artist and the new sculpture in their August, 2016 issue. View it here.