Editor’s note: The “Between Earth and Sky” exhibit, showing at Hawk Ridge Farm in Pownal through July 27, is open by appointment only. Call 688-4468 or email jlacombe@maine.rr.com.

POWNAL — Minot Road is a half-mile, tree-canopied dirt lane off Route 9 next to Bradbury Mountain State Park. Turn onto it, follow its gentle grade upward — and relax. Let your soul open. You are about to experience something wondrous and imaginative.

At its top, the road levels off a bit, then angles slightly downward before it ends. You have reached Hawk Ridge Farm, but even before you come to that level section, even before you stop your car and take a closer look, you will be aware that something in your environment has subtly changed.

You will doubtlessly have spotted a few pieces of sculpture in the field widening out of the woods, but your senses must first adjust before you notice the wealth of art around you. And they will go on having to adjust, discovery after discovery, because much of the sculpture in the “Between Earth and Sky” exhibit at Hawk Ridge Farm is subtle.

It seems to rise from the earth itself, except, of course, for those few pieces hanging — or climbing — into the sky. And you have to find it for yourself as you go.

In early summer for the past 15 years or so, June Lacombe, who owns the farm, has opened a new exhibit, and the effect is always the same: Spring has risen into summer, and Art seems to be rising from nature into its own Equinox. I use that phrase pointedly, for here the purpose is the placement of art in nature, and art, like everything else “man”-made, rises from human nature working the elements of wider nature.

Here, the waiting harvest is bountiful — with 35 artists presenting nearly 120 works, all displayed in a wider beauty framing their own.

In the open rise beyond that second fence two white horses are grazing. Somewhere closer, near the barn, you can hear chickens clucking. Right in front of you, over the first fence, a vegetable garden is laid out in diagonal rows, a work of art in itself. A grapevine forms its own trellis and bower.

And all around are works of sculpture — some clearly visible, others waiting for you to find them.

By now you’ve noticed that 6-foot bronze dragonfly by Digby Veevers-Carter hovering above the garden. But if you follow the path that takes you to it, you’ll find a lot more. So start at the beginning, back by the house, where Carl Schwenk’s cast bronze “Earthbook II” rests open on a table, waiting for you. If you’re like me, you’ll probably try to turn the pages. Don’t trouble yourself. Art can be illusory, and three more of his books can be found a long way out there under a shaded hedge.

Along the way, and way past that, many surprises await you. The fields are filled with Gary Haven Smith’s granite wisdom pieces, and the woods with Wendy Klemperer’s weathered steel horse, wolf, fox and porcupine.

By the time you circle the field, you’ll have found more than enough delights. And back between the house and the barn, you’ll see live chickens in their coop, with Lisa Becu’s granite and steel sculpture of chickens placed as if they’re pecking the grass. A little farther on under a hedge of brush, Roy Parrington’s black granite “Suzanna,” a near-dream image of female beauty, rises from the shaded earth, caught in its moment between smooth body and rough stone.

By now, you’ve come about two-thirds of the way. There is still more, much more, both behind the house and inside it.

You still have a couple of weeks to come see for yourself.

Jim Glenn Thatcher is a poet and writer who lives in Yarmouth and often writes about both nature and the arts.

Sunday afternoon artist talks

WHEN: From 2 to 2:45 p.m.

WHERE: Hawk Ridge Farm Pownal

COST: Free

July 10: “Carving the Human Figure in Wood” | Steve Lindsay

Artist Steve Lindsay will review how he selects wood and plans a figurative carving. He has completed both large-scale sculptures carved from a single tree and intricate smaller-scale figures. His two pieces in the “Between Earth and Sky” exhibition are “Askir” and “Embla,” based on a Norse creation myth of the first people, carved in ash and elm. There will be an informal “under the maple tree talk” with opportunity for questions.

July 17: “The International Sculpture Symposium Schoodic, Maine” | Roy Patterson

The film, “Rock Solid,” produced by Richard Kane, will introduce a talk by Roy Patterson on the Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium. This biennial stone sculpture symposium draws international artists who work with regional artists to create public sculpture in the Down East. Patterson and fellow participants Lise Becu and Kazumi Hoshino have work in the “Between Earth and Sky” exhibit.

July 24: “From Clay to Bronze” | Digby Veevers Carter

Digby Veevers Carter, artist and owner of Somerset Foundry in Bath, will discuss the multi-step process of lost wax bronze casting, from mold making to creating the final patina. Examples of work in various stages will be shown, and an antique verde patina demonstrated. Digby has a giant bronze dragonfly sited in a lupine field in the “Between Earth and Sky” exhibit.

MORE INFO AND IMAGES: www.junelacombesculpture.com

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