New UMF sculpture to reuse mower blades

FARMINGTON — “Lawnmower Leaves” is the title of a sculpture made of about 1,000 recycled lawnmower blades that will grace the entrance of the University of Maine at Farmington Education Center.

Sculptor Christopher Fennell, nationally recognized for his colossal creations constructed from reclaimed and sustainable materials, is the artist of the 24-foot-tall steel piece.

“Chris’s sculpture will be the finishing touch to the greenest building on campus,” UMF President Theodora J. Kalikow said. “We’re thrilled to have such a highly acclaimed contemporary artist adding to the landscape of the 21st-century arts at UMF.”

Designed in keeping with UMF’s vision for the environmentally sustainable Education Center, Fennell’s work will depict three leaf-like blades in a graceful arch. The lawnmower blades were obtained by Fennell from a national lawn and garden tractor company.

Fennell said he wanted to take an unsustainable and graceless activity and make a statement of how the blades could be used in an environmentally friendly way to create a thing of beauty.

“Sculpture is a visual language,” he said. “Using recycled materials is not only a powerful image about our choices, but also connects the audience to the artwork through their own personal experiences with those materials.”

Fennell will begin the sculpture this week and is expected to finish it in 30 to 60 days. He encourages members of the campus and general public to visit him during construction.

The sculpture was commissioned in accordance with Maine’s 1979 Percent for Art Act, which provides funds for the acquisition of public artworks for newly constructed or renovated state-funded buildings.

Fennell, originally from Florida, was an architect who created flight simulators. Inspired by materials that have been cast out by society, he has been creating colossal architectural skeletons from discarded materials since 2000. His first sculpture was built at the University of Georgia from the boards of a dismantled barn. He created a tornado sculpture out of 160 bicycles and he’s been
commissioned to create a piece in Lewiston, Idaho, made of 80 aluminum
canoes.

Sculptor Christopher Fennell on Tuesday holds a small version of “Lawnmower Leaves,” which will be made of about 1,000 recycled lawnmower blades, near the entrance to the University of Maine at Farmington’s Education Center.

Sculptor Christopher Fennell works Tuesday on a small version of “Lawnmower Leaves,” which will be made from about 1,000 recycled lawnmower blades, near the entrance to the University of Maine at
Farmington’s Education Center.

Sculptor Christopher Fennell began work Tuesday on a work of
art near the entrance to the University of Maine at Farmington’s Education Center. Fennell is kneeling on 1,000 used lawnmower blades that will become a three-leaf sculpture titled “Lawnmower Leaves.”

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