As Emily Dickinson put it: “Beauty be not caused. It is.”
“Meaning it’s already there. You just have to find it,” said artist Louis Ponerantz, shortly after installing the new centerpiece to the Wilton Main Street park – a fountain carved from a boulder relocated from a Wilton roadside.
Ponerantz specializes in water fountains using the natural shape of rocks, though it is rare for him to use such a large one, he said.
“The rock itself is essential. The wrong rock would have no charm. This rock has charm and a certain grace,” said Ponerantz.
The rock’s flat top and roughly diamond-shaped sides will allow for a still pool of water at the top, and the water to curve as it cascades down the sides, said Ponerantz, creating the images of both stillness and motion – something he is always seeking in his work.
“The top will be a five-foot pool of stillness, but the water sheeting down takes the stone from an object to something dynamic, with presence,” said Ponerantz.
The Main Street Association has had the idea for a fountain as a focal point of the park for several years now, said Patsy Belt, a member of the association. An anonymous doner gave them the funds to make that reality.
It will take about a week until the fountain is functional, said Belt.