Spoonbridge and Cherry (Oldenburg/van Bruggen)

A giant spoon with a cherry balanced on its tip sits in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, and water sprays from the cherry's stem. Spoonbridge and Cherry, by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, was made between 1985 and 1988 of aluminium, stainless steel and paint. The Walker's collection record gives its overall size as 354 by 618 by 162 inches, about 29.5 feet high and 51.5 feet long; the Walker's magazine puts the spoon at 51 feet long. Martin Friedman of the Walker commissioned the artists to make a fountain for the opening of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden in 1988. According to the Walker's magazine, they presented the spoon after several site visits, and the cherry was van Bruggen's contribution. The raised bowl of the spoon suggested the bow of a Viking ship to the artists, a nod to Minnesota's Nordic roots, and the spoon was fabricated at an industrial boat-making factory. They also saw the silver edges as suggestive of ice skate blades, and, with snow on top, the cherry as a mouthful of ice cream sundae. The sculpture is in the Walker's collection, a gift of Frederick R. Weisman in honour of his parents, William and Mary Weisman, in 1988. KSTP reported in 2022 that the aluminium cherry weighs 1,200 pounds and had just been reunited with the spoon after three months away for restoration, the previous time having been 2009. The Walker's director of collections and exhibition management said it is submerged in water for about eight months a year, when the fountain is running. The Walker says the Sculpture Garden is free and open daily, and the garden lies across Vineland Place from the Walker's main entrance.