How the Spoon and Cherry sculpture found a home in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS — It’s recognizable not just in Minneapolis, but across the country, and for good reason.

It’s the center piece of the Walker Art Center’s sculpture garden. And in many ways, it’s become a state symbol. Roughly 600,000 people a year visit the Spoon and Cherry.

“It’s bigger than the sculpture garden. It’s bigger than the Walker. It’s something that has become emblematic of the state of Minnesota in general,” said Siri Engberg, Senior Curator and Director of Visual Arts for Walker Art Center. 

Last year the Spoonbridge and Cherry, as its technically called, celebrated 35 years on site. In the late 80’s artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen were tasked with creating something special for the sculpture garden.

“Claus Oldenberg is known for whimsical pop art, infused works that are very much everyday objects and changing them in surprising ways,” said Engberg.

In Chicago, Oldenberg had an idea to use a spoon as a bridge into Lake Michigan. It didn’t work out. But he found a place for the utensil in Minneapolis. His thought was the bowl of the spoon could be associated with the prow of a Viking ship, over the water.

“I think the cherry with the color, the red, that’s what pops it out,” said Vicki Friedman who is visiting with her husband Gary from St. Louis, Missouri.

Van Bruggen thought so too. She’s the one who convinced Oldenburg that the fruit would be “the cherry on top” for his masterpiece.

The cherry weighs about 1,200 pounds. And the spoon portion of the sculpture is nearly 3 tons. It’s made out of stainless steel and aluminum and it took two years to build on the east coast. Then it was shipped by flatbed trailer to Minneapolis. In May of 1988, two cranes finally put the spoon and cherry in its place.

“It’s pretty cool. It shoots water out of the stem,” said Ximena Fernandez, who was visiting the sculpture garden.

The sculpture is a giant fountain surrounded by a wet meadow. Oldenburg designed it that way as a shout-out to the Land of 10,000 Lakes. When the wind changes direction, you feel the mist coming from the stem.

The sculpture needs to be cleaned after a long winter and repainted every so often. But maintaining that shine is what’s helped it become the picture capitol of Minneapolis. People get creative with their photos and some will go to great heights to get a closer look. 

“I love it. It’s so unique. I don’t think there’s anything like it in the world,” said the Friedmans.

“It’s neat. You can’t see this kind of merging between art and nature anywhere else,” said Engberg. “The scale of this piece is monumental. Against the Minneapolis skyline it’s kind of an incredible object.”

Again, the Spoonbridge and Cherry is surrounded by a wet meadow with native plants. It’s all designed to help recycle rainwater through the fountain.