Stone Quarry Art Park (Dorothy Riester House and Studio)

ABOUT

Stone Quarry Art Park is an outdoor contemporary art space. Artist Dorothy Riester founded Stone Quarry with her husband, Robert Riester, in 1991. The grounds are open to the public year round and include four miles of trails, outdoor art, and the Riester’s mid-century home and studio. Through its visiting artist program, Stone Quarry continues the Riester legacy of supporting artists and providing public access to art and land.

SPECIAL RESOURCES

“The Park is not an outdoor museum of sculpture placed statically in a landscape setting, but rather an ever-changing partnership between the artist and environment.”

— Dorothy Riester

Dorothy Riester (1916–2017)

Dorothy Winner Riester married Robert Andrew Riester in 1938 after they both graduated from college. Initially, they lived in Irwin, PA and then moved to Syracuse. In 1958 they purchased land at the top of Stone Quarry Hill in Cazenovia. Dorothy designed the house that she and her husband built, living in it permanently from the 1960’s.

Dorothy did her undergraduate work at Carnegie Mellon University and graduate work in ceramics at University of Pittsburgh; she received her Master’s Degree from Syracuse University in Sculpture and Design. She had an extensive teaching career at Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, Syracuse University and Cazenovia College. She lectured nationwide and wrote Design for Flower Arrangers, published in 1959. Dorothy was a lifelong artist. She saw her greatest accomplishment as the Founder of the Stone Quarry Hill Art Park in Cazenovia NY in 1991.

_{Dorothy working on “House Mother” in her studio, circa 2002.}

LEARN MORE

With 104-acres of publicly accessible land and a robust and diverse visiting artist program, Stone Quarry is an invitation to artists and the public—come create and experience awe.

Stone Quarry is located on the lands of the People of the Standing Stone of Onyota’a:ká (Oneida), a sovereign nation that is part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. In the late 1800s, white settlers quarried the land. In the early 1900s, Mary Hackley, a widow, purchased the property and farmed with her two sons, giving the landscape its current agrarian aesthetic. In 1958 Dorothy and Robert Riester purchased the land. Dorothy, a prolific artist, handcrafted a home and studio atop the hill. Ever the creative thinker and community agitator, Dorothy sought to open the property to the public and other artists.

In 1991, the Riesters created Stone Quarry Hill Art Park and gifted their home and land to the organization. As its first act, the organization hosted an outdoor exhibition of sculpture created by visiting artists. The mission statement of the organization reads, “…to engage the public through its exhibitions, collections, interpretation, and community outreach program in the arts. Set among 104 acres of conserved land and groomed trails, the Art Park is dedicated to providing a unique environment for showcasing art by emerging and established artists, in natural and gallery settings.”

The Dorothy Riester House and Studio (Hilltop House and Studio) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014 for its significance “under Criterion C as a highly intact example of a mid-twentieth century modern house and artist studio… the building exemplifies mid-century house design with its use of common, ready-made materials and prominent front-gable massing, large expanses of windows, and open interior plan. However, unlike a typical mid-century house, the building also incorporates elements of Dorothy Riester’s sculptural background and her desire to integrate nature into her art.”

IN COLLABORATION WITH THE NATIONAL TRUST