Sculptor David Stromeyer turns 80 this fall. The artist has been making his signature monumental steel sculptures for more than half a century now, with no sign of slowing down. At the bucolic Cold Hollow Sculpture Park that Stromeyer created in Enosburg Falls on 200 acres he bought in 1970, more than 70 of his works show the entire range of his output. The latest will be unveiled this summer.
With rolling fields surrounded by forested hills, and mown paths between its enormous colorful sculptures, Cold Hollow is a joy to see on a sunny day. But as stunning as the site is, the outdoor venue is more than a showcase for Stromeyer’s works. It’s a vibrant center for the arts.
Public events this season, which runs from June 6 to October 12, include presentations by two artists-in-residence — Constance Jaquay and Ed Woodham, both interdisciplinary artists — and the premiere of the park’s first commission, a site-specific musical composition for quintet by Phil Acimovic. There are birding walks, hikes led by forestry experts, photography workshops and a birthday party for Stromeyer.
That’s a lot to manage. Since the park opened to the public in 2014, Stromeyer and his wife, Sarah, who live on-site during the season, have handled most of it themselves. They’ve also had the help of a small advisory council headed by former director Rosie Branson Gill and, after the park became a nonprofit in 2019, a board, which Sarah chairs. But the couple, Sarah said, are ready to “step out of the picture as much as we can from the running of things.”
Enter the park’s first full-time executive director, Robin Schatell. The Manhattan resident has 30 years of experience in arts programming, public event planning and organizational management in New York City. Her introduction to outdoor sculpture came as director of public programs and community engagement at Madison Square Park Conservancy. She subsequently managed public programming at Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, one of many directorships she has held at institutions around the city.
Schatell founded her own nonprofit consultancy, Moving Culture Projects, in 2020, when performing arts venues had shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the organization, she partnered with the City Parks Foundation, the NYC Department of Transportation’s Public Realm Program, City University of New York’s graduate center theater and other institutions to mount arts programming in public spaces across all five boroughs.
Prior to that, her largest project was heading the River to River Festival, New York City’s largest free summer arts festival. While serving as director of programming for Riverside Park at New York City’s Department of Parks and Recreation, she founded Summer on the Hudson in 2005; this year’s festival lists 400 events.
Given all that, one might think running a seasonal sculpture park in Franklin County is among her smaller projects. But Schatell, who will live in St. Albans for the season, doesn’t see it that way.
“This is not small at all,” she said in a recent phone call. “It’s a huge challenge. It’s building out this idea of a public art park in rural Vermont that sustains itself beyond the founders, fully staffed and funded.”
The park is the art project.
Robin Schatell
Schatell’s vision for the park takes into account its sculptures and natural setting in equal measure. “It’s incredibly beautiful,” she said. “It feels like the sculptures have sprouted up from the ground. You can separate out the sculptures as individual pieces, but the park is the art project.”
The new director chose “Among the Sculptures” as this season’s theme to highlight that holistic view. The artwork is sited on only about 40 of the park’s 200 acres. So she partnered with the land-conservation organization Cold Hollow to Canada — named for the Cold Hollow Mountains, which stretch from Fletcher to the Canadian border. The group’s foresters will offer two hikes through other parts of the property.
Schatell also selected both artists-in-residence, whom she got to know through her position as consultant to Art in Odd Places, a grassroots project that uses visual and performing arts to reclaim public spaces along 14th Street in New York and in other cities. Woodham, who founded and directs Art in Odd Places, is a visual and performance artist, puppeteer, and curator who often uses humor and irony in his provocative works. Jaquay, based in Los Angeles, has performed with his group. She is a physical storyteller and avant-garde dancer whose work explores women’s trauma; at Cold Hollow she will give a workshop on the therapeutic practice of family mapping using found materials.
As yet unscheduled are sitings of at least three new sculptures by David Stromeyer. The one nearest to completion, which the artist created over the past few years in his on-site studio, is a painted work in stainless steel called “Once Broken.” Once the ground dries out, he and his team will move the piece across the fields using cranes that weigh 30,000 to 50,000 pounds apiece.
Three more sculptures are in various stages of completion, but the studio isn’t always available to work on them: Stromeyer also uses the space to rehabilitate two or three existing sculptures every year — the paint lasts about 25 years — before hauling them back out to their foundations. He is currently conducting trial workdays with candidates for a conservator position. The new hire will learn to carry on the technically demanding rehabilitation work without him.
Schatell is well aware of the difficulties presented by Cold Hollow’s remote location. “Rural places have their challenges, obviously, but I think bringing artists into [Cold Hollow] will be relatively easy because this is an incredible space,” she said. She acknowledged that funding is “getting harder,” but added that she has ideas for new revenue streams. The main skill she said she brings to the job? “Being able do it all.”
“This is someone who can get stuff done,” Sarah Stromeyer confirmed.
Schatell’s experience will be key to sustaining a rarity in the art world: a single-artist sculpture park that shows the evolution of that artist’s work over 50 years. Board member Peter Espenshade, who also runs the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival in Colchester, realized Cold Hollow’s unique worth on his first visit.
“A lot of places in Vermont claim to be hidden gems,” he said. “A friend of mine took me there two years ago and I was like, Oh, my god. I had no idea this place existed. It really is a perfect surprise. You drive into this dirt road and suddenly, boom! There’s this extraordinary sculpture park.
“Sarah and David have this life that is almost an idealized commitment to the art,” he continued. “They’re surrounded by it. The sculptures come from an artist who just lives it. That’s what makes them so meaningful.” ➆
The original print version of this article was headlined “Leading the Field | With new art and a new executive director, big things are happening at Cold Hollow Sculpture Park”
This article appears in Summer Preview • 2026.
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