One of Herb Ferris's sculptures sits on his land in Windsor, Vt., Ferris wants to erect a similar large sculpture on Hartland-owned land behind the Park and Ride on a hill at the southeast corner of the interchange on I-91.(Valley News - Jennifer Hauck) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
One of Herb Ferris's sculptures sits on his land in Windsor, Vt., Ferris wants to erect a similar large sculpture on Hartland-owned land behind the Park and Ride on a hill at the southeast corner of the interchange on I-91.(Valley News - Jennifer Hauck) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Credit: Valley News — Jennifer Hauck

Hartland — Sculptor Herb Ferris has been eyeing one particular hill, a grassy slope on the southeast side of the Interstate 91 interchange at Exit 9, for decades.

It’s a 27-acre parcel owned by the town of Hartland and conserved by the Upper Valley Land Trust — “quite prominent and quite beautiful,” Ferris said.

Last Monday, the 71-year-old Ferris, who lives in Windsor, approached the Hartland Selectboard with a proposal to donate and install a granite and wood sculpture on the crest of the hill.

The sculpture would feature a large granite boulder, about four or five feet in diameter. An arched, 19­foot piece of white pine, stripped of its bark, would be positioned at an angle on the rock, curving upwards, creating a piece “with lift” and “a sense of gesture,” Ferris said.

Located just behind the Exit 9 Park-and-Ride, the piece would be most visible from the Route 5 overpass across I-91, said Hartland Town Manager Bob Stacey, as well as to motorists heading south on the interstate.

The Selectboard’s reception of the idea was decidedly mixed, Stacey said. About half were in favor of the idea; others preferred the land remain untouched.

In the past, the town has tried to keep the exit unspoiled; a controversial proposal for a gas station at the interchange was denied in 2000.

Hartland Selectboard Chairman Gordon Richardson said the board will continue to review the proposal at the next meeting on June 6 and aims to make a decision by the end of June.

“I don’t want to make it sound like this is a done deal, because it really isn’t,” Ferris said. “We’re just tiptoeing that way.”

The board will make sure the sculpture aligns with the town’s gift policy, which, Richardson said, mandates that the gift benefits the town and entails only limited expense. It has already gotten an OK for the idea from the Upper Valley Land Trust, which holds a conservation easement on the parcel.

Still, Richardson hasn’t bought into the idea. “Nobody’s saying it’s not going to be good for the town,” he said. “Public art is a good thing. I just don’t particularly want to have it there.”

Richardson also noted his concern about the expense. Ferris has requested that the town cover the costs of transporting and installing the materials, which he estimated would be “in the hundreds — not thousands.”

Ferris also has yet to confirm the suitability of the site, and is marking out the dimensions of the sculpture to be sure that it can be seen from I­91.

Ferris is a nationally­recognized sculptor, with pieces featured in 13 states, Washington, D.C., and Canada, as well as pieces at the Vermont Institute of Natural Sciences in Quechee, the Karme Choling Meditation Center in Barnet, Mount Ascutney Hospital and the Path of Life Garden in Windsor.

He also has completed dozens of privately­contracted sculptures. His work is predominantly based off natural phenomena, using granite and wood. His pieces experiment with weight and balance, to convey to the audience a sense of what Ferris calls “material­ness,” an appreciation of the components and sum of Vermont’s natural landscapes.

The sculpture could likely be sold for between $12,000 and $20,000, Ferris estimated.

“There has been some ‘Why are you donating it to the town?’ But at my age, it’s more important for me to see if (the sculpture) does what I think it’ll do,” Ferris said. “If it has some sense of ‘Oh cool, look at this,’ that’s what I really want.”

That curiosity was what brought Ferris to first broach the subject with Stacey in early May.

A friend from Cornish had called offering Ferris a white pine “with sweep,” a piece of wood too curved to be useful for lumber.

Ferris bought the log, shipped it to his house and, thinking of the I-91 site, called up the town manager.

Stacey has become one of the project’s proponents.

“I think it’d be something that would stand out. After awhile, people would recognize it and people would say, ‘You turn where that sculpture is,’ ” he said, comparing it to Jim Sardonis’ piece Reverence, depicting whales’ tails along Interstate 89 in South Burlington. “Something unique, a landmark.”

Despite the Selectboard’s divided response, both sides are willing to compromise.

“Honestly, it’s Richardson’s approval I’m looking for,” Ferris said. “When I go up past the Richardson farm, it’s absolutely glorious. I really respect that tradition — of land and farming. If his feeling is ‘We should preserve this and you’re trying to put this silly thing on it,’ I’ll withdraw.”

For Ferris, though, the project embodies his own gratitude for land and its beauty.

“I think our sense of appreciation can have some expression,” he said. “Why not?”

Katie Jickling can be reached at katiejickling@gmail.com.