WASHINGTON, DC.- The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), a Washington, D.C.-based education and advocacy non-profit, today announced that the artist Mary Miss and the Des Moines Art Center have reached a settlement concerning a breach of contract lawsuit by Miss against the Art Center about the environmental sculpture Greenwood Pond: Double Site, which was commissioned for the Art Center’s permanent collection and opened in 1996. The Art Center will pay the artist $900,000; the settlement will end the lawsuit filed by Miss on April 4, 2024, for breach of contract, and allow the Des Moines Art Center to proceed with previously stated plans to destroy the artwork. The Art Center never engaged in serious negotiations with the artist about a fundraising effort to restore the work; instead, the Art Center’s director informed the artist in a December 1, 2023, email: “we do not and will not ever have the money to remake it.” At that point the artist contacted TCLF, which mounted an advocacy campaign that included: public outreach and education; more than 50 letters of support from art world leaders including collectors, philanthropists, artists, curators, former museum directors, and others; webinars about women and the land art movement; short videos with the artist; strategic communications; pro bono legal counsel; and other actions.

In tandem with the settlement, TCLF, which has advocated on behalf of Greenwood Pond: Double Site since 2014 (along with many other examples of art in the public realm), announced the creation of the Public Art Advocacy Fund to provide a national platform for threatened and at risk works. The artist Mary Miss is making the inaugural donation to the fund.

Of the settlement concerning Greenwood Pond: Double Site, Mary Miss stated: I am so appreciative of the broad support that has brought us to this final settlement: to the artists, designers, patrons and others who have followed the issues surrounding the future of Greenwood Pond: Double Site, I give my heartfelt thanks. I hope the resurrection and reconsideration of this project will lead to further reflections on the relationships between artists, environmental issues, communities and our public cultural institutions. I trust this experience can help to develop stronger bonds moving forward.

The support of the citizens of Des Moines has been one of the most important aspects of this past year. I was made aware of decades of experiences at Double Site that were truly moving. I am especially indebted to the Wandro Law Firm for their representation in all the legal matters as well as the advice and support of the Iowa Lawyers for the Arts. Their guidance has been invaluable.

Most particularly I would like to acknowledge the support of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, which has been advocating for this project since 2014. Without their leadership and ability to bring national attention to this matter, it would have been very difficult to surface this sculpture's future for broad public inquiry. Therefore, I am pleased to provide the inaugural donation to TCLF’s Public Art Advisory Fund.

TCLF President & CEO, Charles A. Birnbaum said: Site-specific works of art in the landscape, when starved of the necessary curatorial oversight and stewardship, like great works of landscape architecture, are among the most vulnerable and least forgiving representations of our shared cultural identity. With many of these works now reaching sufficient age, and the artist’s careers drawing to a close, a strategy for their long-term stewardship and protection has accelerated the need for a comprehensive national education and advocacy strategy, hence the creation of the Public Art Advocacy Fund. What happened to Greenwood Pond: Double Site could have and should have been prevented, but the institution that commissioned the environmental sculpture for its permanent collection appears to have failed as a proper custodian and steward of this widely acclaimed and influential artwork, which is a core function and responsibility.

Sadly, over roughly the past decade we have seen an increase in the number of threatened artworks. Now with the impending loss of Greenwood Pond: Double Site, something needed to change. The Public Art Advocacy Fund will enable TCLF to draw meaningful and lasting attention to the significance of art in the landscape, support the generation of local and national historic designations, as well as highlight, nurture and amplify local and national constituencies for at risk works, and to develop and execute targeted advocacy campaigns.

We are honored that Mary Miss has agreed to be the inaugural donor to the Public Art Advocacy Fund.

Within the broad umbrella of cultural landscapes, TCLF has brought attention to and advocated for other specific categories, such as Modernist landscapes, as well as bodies of work by specific landscape architects including Garrett Eckbo, M. Paul Friedberg, Lawrence Halprin, and Cornelia Hahn Oberlander.