Caponi Art Park in Eagan joins National Register of Historic Places
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Cheryl Caponi says it was “a relief” to find out that the Caponi Art Park of Eagan entered the National Register of Historic Places.
“So much effort had gone into [the application],” says Cheryl, who is the park’s executive director. “It took approximately eight years from the time that we started working on it.”
Chery’s husband, Anthony Caponi, who died in 2015, was an artist and Macalester College art professor who opened the park to the public in 1987. Almost 50 large-scale sculptures — the majority of which are creations by Anthony — are integrated into the landscape of the 60-acre park
“It’s a recognition of the contribution that my late husband, Anthony Caponi, made to the arts community and for the state of Minnesota,” Cheryl says. The park “combined all of the elements of his teaching and his aesthetic vision, so he would say that he made a 60-acre sculpture.”
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The National Register, which is directed by the National Park Service, is the “official list of the nation's cultural resources worthy of preservation.” The benefits of a designation for a site include tax incentives, grant funding and preservation tools.
Caponi Art Park worked on the nomination with the State Historic Preservation Office. The National Registry recognized the park not only for its art, but also for its landscape architecture and its association and representation of an artistic figure.
Anthony was born in the Apennine Mountains of Italy in 1921, and moved to the U.S. in 1936. In the 40s, he came to Minneapolis to study sculpture at the Walker Art Center School and the University of Minnesota, and he obtained a master’s degree in art education from the University of Minnesota in 1949. That same year, Anthony built a house and art studio on the Eagan property and, with Cheryl, began shaping the landscape into an art park.
“What we were trying to do with it was basically to create an oasis of calm and nature in the middle of the city and to preserve the open space in a rapidly changing suburban area,” Cheryl says.
Cheryl says she and Anthony started planning for the preservation of the park while he was still alive.
“He was all about permanence and preservation, even though he worked with nature, and we have no control over what nature does,” Cheryl says. “He'd be quite happy that we were able to complete the process.”
The park, which is closed for the winter, will reopen in the spring.
