Local artist, Liz Koch team up for new artwork at Botanica’s Carousel Gardens
One of Liz Koch’s favorite local artists is John Ernatt — a painter and sculptor who is among the founders of the Fisch Haus artist collaborative.
She owns at least four of his paintings, she said, and his work has always spoken to her.
Now, thanks to their relationship, Botanica at 701 Amidon has been gifted an eye-catching piece of art that can be admired by visitors.
On Wednesday, Koch and Ernatt were both in attendance at an unveiling of a new sculpture called “The Attendant, 1923.” It’s been installed in the Koch Carousel Gardens, which were built in part with $1 million donated by Koch Industries and the Koch Family Foundation.
The sculpture, 10 feet tall and made of bronze, is open to interpretation, Ernatt said Wednesday. Its creation came about after Koch, a renowned local art patron, decided to commission a piece that would mark her family’s contribution to the carousel gardens, which opened last year.
“When it came time to do something, I was selfishly looking for a piece to be done for myself for a place in California,” Koch said on Wednesday. “And after talking to John and conceptualizing, I just realized it was too important to be mine and it needs to be shared.”
Ernatt showed her some drawings, he said, and joked that Koch was immediately drawn to the most complicated sculpture he’d proposed. He got to work on it a year ago.
The piece now is one of more than 100 works of art scattered throughout Botanica, said executive director Marty Miller. About 50 or those pieces are sculptures, and many of those were created by John Ernatt’s sculptor wife, Connie Ernatt. (Connie is responsible for the troll who supports Sleepy Troll Hill in the carousel gardens.)
Koch, who bundled up on Wednesday afternoon to watch with a large group of Botanica supporters as the sculpture was unveiled, said she was seeing the finished product for the first time along with everyone else.
“I just think John has a gift,” she said. “And I just want everybody else to love it as much as I do.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2021 at 12:35 PM.
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