What Is It? Stunning New Sculpture Debuts at Rochester Park

We have some really cool art installations all around Rochester, Minnesota but there's a new one in town. I saw pictures of it on Instagram and thought it looked beautiful! So I went to check it out myself.

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New Art Piece at Cascade Lake

This new piece is a huge sculpture that can be found at Cascade Lake Park. You'll see it when you drive in. Not only is it one of the first things upon entering the park, it's also massive.

There was a competition where the City of Rochester and the Rochester Art Center judged and officially decided on a new piece of art that was going to be on display in town. Out of all of the entries, they selected a piece of work from The Milligan Studio whose sculptor is from Ireland.

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The piece commissioned is called The Weight of Water which I think is very fitting for a piece that's by a body of water in town.

Based on The Milligan Studio's website it appears they began work on this piece in 2024 and now it is finally complete and ready for us to see!

The sculpture is made from steel and glass, all made by hand and all of the glass is painted in its own unique way. You can really enjoy this piece from a distance or you can get up close and really look at the detail.

It's an impressive 20 feet tall. When it arrived in Rochester the steel had to be placed just right and each piece of glass had to be hand-placed. Seriously some impressive work!

What is the New Sculpture at Cascade Lake in Rochester, MN?

So what is it? The steel piece up at the top is a boat and the pieces with all of the beautiful glass are feather oars. As @rochester_mn writes on Instagram, "this piece invites visitors to reflect on the movement, power, and beauty of water".

I saw it on a cloudy day so I can't imagine how pretty it'll be in the sunlight!