Where Earth Touches Sky

Abstract steel and bronze sculptures displayed at The Ringling Museum’s “As Earth Is to Sky” exhibition.

When you step inside As Earth Is to Sky at The Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, you’re entering a realm where abstract sculpture and human imagination touch the infinite. This striking exhibition (on view November 15, 2025 – August 29, 2027) brings together powerful works from The Ringling’s acclaimed modern and contemporary collection, celebrating both materiality and spirit in equal measure.

A Gift That Keeps Giving

As Earth Is to Sky: Selections from the Gift of Murray Bring and Kathleen Delaney Bring and The Ringling Collection of Modern & Contemporary Art represents the second major presentation drawn from a generous donation from local collectors Murray Bring and Kathleen (Kay) Delaney Bring. Their ongoing philanthropic commitment has significantly strengthened The Ringling’s holdings of American and European abstract and minimalist sculpture.

This exhibition picks up where earlier showcases left off, inviting visitors into a dynamic dialogue between form, space, and material — a conversation that resonates deeply with the museum’s commitment to art that challenges, expands, and inspires.

Sculpture as Sky and Earth

The core of the show lies in its sculptural works, which span an incredible range of materials — from weighty bronze and iron to the delicacy of wood, steel, and copper. Highlights include:

• Mark di Suvero – a giant in abstract steel sculpture whose work fuses industrial strength with lyrical energy;

• Bryan Hunt – whose elegant forms often evoke flight and motion;

• John Van Alstine – whose carefully balanced pieces engage directly with the gallery’s spatial dimensions;

• Yuriko Yamaguchi – bringing a sculptor’s sensibility rooted in natural forms and gesture;

• Works on paper and panel by Robin Rose and Robert Stackhouse, both artists with meaningful ties to Florida’s art community.

One standout is Beverly Pepper’s Diamond Sentinel II (1981–89), a towering vertical form in cast iron. Pepper — a pioneering figure in land art and site-specific sculpture — creates works that feel both monumental and harmoniously connected to the earth beneath your feet. Resonating with power and serenity, this piece exemplifies the exhibition’s poetic title — a phrase drawn from a 1975 essay by art historian Edward F. Fry exploring Pepper’s work and the relationship between sculpture and sky.

Why This Exhibition Matters

What makes As Earth Is to Sky especially compelling is its invitation to experience abstraction not as something remote or esoteric, but as a language that speaks through materials we recognize — wood, stone, metal — and elevates them into something transcendent. These works engage viewers not only visually, but physically and emotionally, asking us to consider how space, weight, and balance shape perception.

This exhibition is a thoughtful continuation of The Ringling’s growing dedication to modern and contemporary art, positioning Sarasota as a vibrant hub for art lovers who want to explore how artists bridge the poetic with the physical.