Super Special Happy Place

For the Stanley J. Roszkowski U.S. Courthouse in Rockford, Illinois, artist Tony Feher created Super Special Happy Place, a park-sized sculpture that transforms the site’s sweeping east lawn with a graceful composition of 104 flowering crabapple trees, crushed granite pathways, and simple concrete benches. Each spring, the trees erupt in a spectacular display of cheerfully colored and sweetly scented blossoms. The flowers herald the start of the season with a flourish of beauty and optimism that is reflected in the artwork’s exuberant and playful title.

Located on a four-acre site near the center of downtown, the courthouse grounds are dominated by large stretches of grass. Feher was intrigued by the scale, flatness, and uniformity of this landscape.  “I had noticed a vast unused expanse of grassy lawn,” he said, “and I thought of my love of flowering trees. I thought of Washington, D.C. and the cherry blossoms, and the gardens in Kyoto…I wanted to do something magnificent like that.” [1]

After many visits to area gardens and nurseries, as well as meetings with local horticulture experts and the project’s landscape architects, Feher selected five varieties of ornamental crabapples based on their hardiness and distinct seasonal qualities. Feher explained that each variety of tree is “unique in form and color—color of blossoms, color of leaves, and color of persistent fruit that hangs on through the winter. And the shape of the trees—there's a weeping form, a columnar form, two that look like lollipops on a stick, and a spreading multi-stem form. They are semi-dwarf varieties, spaced such that they will never grow into each other. Over time they just get to be gnarly, twisty, and funky, and each has its own personality.” [2]

With each new season, Super Special Happy Place gradually shifts appearances. The creamy pink and white blossoms of spring give way to summer foliage, which together with the grass creates a subtle symphony of greens. In autumn, the leaves turn gold and the crabapples ripen in brilliant shades of orange and red. Much of the fruit remains on the trees all winter, occasionally glazed with sparkling ice, dangling from the otherwise bare branches that create dramatic silhouettes and shadows against clean white blankets of snow

In addition to its purely visual qualities, Feher’s art also draws inspiration from diverse historical and contemporary sources. The aesthetics of modern architecture, minimalist sculpture, and the handmade textile patterns found in Iroquois wampum belts and Persian carpets, for example, all influenced his composition for Super Special Happy Place. Planted in dynamic patterns on the same grid that organizes the architectural design of the courthouse, the trees extend the order and elegance of the building into the landscape. Within this grid, the artwork’s five tree varieties are arranged in non-repeating, interlocking diamond patterns. According to Feher, “you never see the same group of trees from any angle: from here, three pink trees and a red one…from there, a round tree and then a tall one and then a weeping one.” [3]

Meandering through the artwork’s grid of trees is a pair of crushed granite paths that widen at key points to provide areas for seating. As the trees mature, visitors can return to these locations time and time again to observe the changes that accompany each new season. Connected to the concrete walkways that are part of the architectural design, these gravel paths are an integral part of the artwork, providing visitors with opportunities to experience the site from more informal and contemplative spaces.

Common to the region that surrounds Rockford, crabapple trees are encountered everywhere from parks to parking lots, but—despite their impressive attributes—they often go unnoticed. Using these ubiquitous trees to create a singular aesthetic experience, Feher's work affirms that there is beauty all around us, provided we are willing to notice and accept it. Conceived for an important civic site in the heart of the city, Super Special Happy Place is a unique cultural destination for current and future generations to share and enjoy.

Notes:

1. Tony Feher, as quoted in Saul Ostrow, “Tony Feher,” BOMB Magazine, issue 122, winter 2012–13, 142.

2. Ibid.

3. Tony Feher, as quoted in Jenny Brown, “Branching Out,” ARTnews, May 2011, 36.