Minnesota Museum of the Mississippi - Taconic Sculpture Park

Minnesota Museum of the Mississippi and other Natural Wonders

Taconic Sculpture Park - Spencertown, New York

Taconic Sculpture Park

Roy Kanwit discovered his calling while behind bars. In prison for deserting the Army during the Vietnam War, he passed the time by carving a bar of soap using a sharpened toothbrush handle. After his release he moved to Vermont, where he kept a studio in an old church and taught himself how to woodcarve. He created monumental figures inspired by Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology from tree trunks and later slabs of marble and sculpted concrete.

In 1983, Roy and his second wife Mary purchased property on a hill just south of Spencertown overlooking the Taconic Parkway. Roy imagined a large head on a hill which motorists could see from the road below as a sort of advertisement for his studio and sculpture garden. The 20-foot high head of Gaea took two years to build. The head is hollow and has a ladder inside leading to an opening on top with a panoramic view of the rolling hills.

Scattered around the fields and woods are dozens of other works large and small. A colossal head of Dionysus, originally intended for a Vermont rest stop. Surreal goddesses with flowers or trees for heads. Organic sprout-like abstracts. A miniature fairy castle. A self portrait of the sculptor chipping at a stone egg to release the muse inside.

Kanwit's home and studio overlooks the garden like a fantasy castle. The artist built the f0ur-story building by hand over many years, carrying the stones up a ladder one-by-one to complete the top story.

Roy Kanwit passed away in 2023 at 76 years old. His family plan to reopen the sculpture park in the summer of 2025.