Nancy Winship Milliken (Charlotte, Vermont, b. 1962– )
In collaboration with Eliot Hays Lothrop (Huntington, Vermont, b. 1978– )
Pasture Song, 2018–22
Charred wood post and beam, fishing net, white horsehair, and hardware
Courtesy of the artist

Pasture Song is a kinetic tapestry of horsehair, tied into thousands of cello bow hair bundles attached to netting. Energized by the sun and wind, the fibrous strands shimmer and stretch outward, extending their reach beyond the structural netting and wooden frame. Recalling a herd of horses or a flowing field of grass, Pasture Song celebrates nature’s leading role and immense power as it influences the sculpture’s varied tones, shapes, and movements. This sculpture gives form to a visual improvisational musical score that features nature’s voice, from the breath of the wind to, in the artist’s words, “the summer symphony of crickets and grasshoppers rubbing their abdomen with their textured legs.”

When conceptualizing Pasture Song, Winship Milliken drew upon New England’s rich agricultural heritage and a strong interest in honoring “the materials as textures of history.” At Shelburne Museum, Pasture Song harks back to the institution’s own unique relationship to horses: in 1946, founder Electra Havemeyer Webb received a sizable collection of horse-drawn carriages, which prompted her decision to establish the Museum the following year.

View process images of this work here:

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