Stone Beds for the Daydreaming Mind: Look Out for "Sleepwalkers"

Mark Mennin installs “Button 10” — one of four pieces in his outdoor exhibit this summer at Berkshire Botanical Garden.

This summer, visitors to Berkshire Botanical Garden will be invited to sit, lean back — and daydream. Nestled quietly among the trees and pathways from June 6 through Aug. 11, “Sleepwalkers,” a new outdoor exhibit by renowned sculptor Mark Mennin, offers a place to do just that.

Four monumental stone sculptures, each weighing more than 6,000 pounds, rest in the landscape like ancient relics crossed with soft clouds. Two are carved from deep green granite, the third gleams in white marble. Mennin, a master of monumental stone carving, has shaped these massive blocks into forms that suggest cushions or beds — tactile, inviting and unmistakably human in scale and presence.

“They are large granite or marble ‘beds’ that are representational of clouds,” Mennin explains. “These are beds, which already kind of hover between a narrative and a function.” That duality — between story and utility — runs through “Sleepwalkers,” which is part of the Garden’s season-long theme, DayDream.

Mennin imagines passersby drawn to the sculptures as places to pause, sit or even recline. “I call it the covert functionality of a horizontal piece,” he says. “It makes horizontality very appealing to me. I think the more of a figure carver one is, the more functional the work becomes as something to lie in or sit on. And so it’s more interactive than ‘please-don’t-touch’ museum objects.”

For Mennin, that invitation to touch is essential, especially in a natural environment. While he doesn’t intentionally carve for comfort, he believes that when he shapes a human-scale depression in stone, “it should be inviting to that.” The result? Sculptures that inhabit the realm of figurative art as much as they do functional design.

The lone white marble piece in “Sleepwalkers” connects to Mennin’s earlier works in the Garden’s permanent collection. In the pieces “Classical Interiors,” he transformed recycled granite columns into two statues that function as chairs. Those statues sit side by side in the Garden’s arboretum. 

For Mennin, who lives and works in Bethlehem, Conn., the connection between stone and the human experience has always been personal. “I’ve wanted to carve stone since I was nine years old,” he says. A childhood trip to Italy with his parents — both accomplished art historians and musicians — sparked his fascination with sculpture. Surrounded by ancient statues and classical folklore, young Mennin imagined they held some kind of black magic. “I just wanted to be involved in that world,” he says.

Years later, he found himself in Carrara, Italy, where the ancient marble quarries have supplied sculptors since Roman times. “Once I was in Carrara, it was game over,” he says. “Humans will always have a relationship with the ancients — and with the prehistoric, too,” he adds. “My connection to the past makes me feel more like a human being.”

Mennin’s work reflects that timeless connection. His sculptures — whether they resemble baths or beds — blur the line between art and life. They evoke something primal yet refined. His surfaces are smooth and welcoming; his forms monumental and grounding. Though rooted in traditional stone-carving techniques, his designs feel contemporary and timeless. Whether installed in public spaces, private gardens or galleries, his sculptures offer a sense of permanence and calm — always reflecting on the relationship between human beings and the natural world.

Having previously exhibited at the Garden in 2018’s “Beautiful Strangers: Artists Discover the Garden,” Mennin returns with “Sleepwalkers” to invite visitors into a moment of stillness. To sit. To recline. To drift.

Because sometimes, even a 6,000-pound stone cloud can make you feel lighter.