— Barefoot Frida is getting some new friends.
Frida, who claims
Ortenstone Gardens and Sculpture Park
as her home, was the first sculpture to be located in Detroit Lakes’ newest city park — but she definitely isn’t the last. Project 412 unveiled its plans for developing both the “garden” and “sculpture” aspects of the 50-acre park at a volunteer event on Wednesday, May 14.
Project 412 Executive Director Amy Stearns gave a brief recap of the park’s history to kick off the presentation.
“This land became available, and some dreamers came together, because that’s how these things happen, right?” said Stearns, before making a joking reference to the movie “Field of Dreams” and noting that Ortenstone “truly is some acreage and a dream.”
“Maybe we could get Kevin Costner (star of the 1989 film) to come here and do the official ribbon cutting,” she added, drawing some chuckles from the group of about 50 Project 412 volunteers and donors who showed up for the event.
Paula Quam / Detroit Lakes Tribune
Stearns said that the Ortenstone project got underway about a year ago, when
Danish environmental artist Thomas Dambo created his nine-sculpture “Trolls in DL”
public art installation.
“Barefoot Frida lives here at Ortenstone,” said Stearns. “This is her home. And as she got settled in, she kept telling us that she wanted more friends out here.”
And that’s just what she got. A few months after Frida arrived, she was joined at Ortenstone by
a pair of horses created by renowned Montana metal artist Jim Dolan.
This sculpture, known as “Togetherness,” was one of two that Dolan created for Project 412 — the other, “Cans in Flight,” is located at the Big Detroit Lake scenic overlook off Highway 10 on the east edge of Detroit Lakes.
Contributed / Project 412
At least seven new sculptures will be joining Frida and Dolan’s horses at the park in the near future — four from Project 412’s current artist-in-residence,
and three from Detroit Lakes’ own Hans Gilsdorf.
As if all that weren’t enough, Stearns said, the
incoming 50-piece exhibit of art by renowned artist Charley Harper
includes more than a dozen pieces that will be displayed along the trails at Ortenstone, while others will be located at the Washington Square Mall and Becker County Museum.
Ziemska, an Ohio-based environmental artist who arrived at Ortenstone Gardens in mid-May and will be staying for about a month, is creating one original sculpture that will be permanently housed at Ortenstone — and bringing in three others from Chicago’s Morton Arboretum for a year-long exhibition there as well.
Stearns revealed that the original sculpture Ziemska is creating for Ortenstone will have a pollinator theme.
Gilsdorf, meanwhile, is crafting three original sculptures in his studio south of Detroit Lakes that will be moved to Ortenstone when finished. He unveiled his preliminary plans for the sculptures at the Wednesday night event.
“I’m really tickled and honored to be asked to come up with some designs (for future sculptures),” Gilsdorf said, noting that his first project at the park will be to create three “sprites,” inspired by the mythical figures of Greek mythology that served as protectors of nature.
“There are going to be three sprites that represent the three biomes … Detroit Lakes is one of the only areas in Minnesota where three different biomes come together,” Gilsdorf explained.
Also at Wednesday’s event, horticulturalist and master gardener Steph Leininger revealed some of the plans she has put together for the different gardens that will be installed at Ortenstone, starting this month.
“I became part of this project because my husband, Sam, was the landscape architect here,” she said, adding that he needed some help creating the pollinator gardens that will be included in the project.
Vicki Gerdes / Detroit Lakes Tribune
By the time it’s finished, the project will include more than 100,000 plantings of native grasses, flowers, shrubs and trees, “though not all at once,” Leininger said, explaining that three gardens are slated to be installed between now and this fall, encompassing about 9,000 square feet of space.
To get all of these projects completed by the time the snow flies, Project 412’s Greg Johnson said, they are going to need as many volunteers as they can get — much like Trolls in DL, which had to be completed in the month that Dambo and his team of creative builders were in town.
“Over a year ago, when we started looking at this (Trolls in DL) project, it was a little bit frightening to realize the number of volunteers we would need,” he said. “But you know who came through for us? You.”
Vicki Gerdes / Detroit Lakes Tribune
And now, Johnson continued, more volunteer help will be needed, not just to complete all the plantings, but to assist with upcoming sculpture installations from Ziemska and Harper.
“She (Ziemska) will need a lot of assistance,” he added, noting that her sculptures will incorporate a lot of rocks and branches gathered from around the park.
“A project like this can only happen if our community gets involved,” he added.
Those who would like to sign up to volunteer at Ortenstone, or with any of Project 412’s other upcoming projects, can do so online at