The experience was so exhilarating, the Olivers
decided to do it again. The ranch — which was
recently donated to the Community Foundation
Sonoma County and offers private fundraising
tours — now has 17 different pieces on site,
including a performance tower by Ann Hamilton, a pasture full of steel blocks by Serra, and a
stunning minimalist artists’ residence, designed
by architect Jim Jennings and artist David Rab-inowitch. Doug Hall, a San Francisco artist, is
currently working on a sculptural and audio
installation, called “Wittgenstein’s Garden,” there.
As studio assistant to these artists, Oliver
does what he likes best: solve problems. But he
does it in ways that open his mind. He likes to
tell the story of one artist who selected a site
on the ranch and then realized that the spot
where the art would be was five feet too high
to be properly viewed from the dirt path that
led up to it. Oliver crunched the numbers and
determined they needed to remove 6,000 yards
of dirt to fix the problem, requiring bulldozers
and costing about $30,000 to $40,000. When
he relayed this information, the artist replied,
“What are you talking about? All we have to do
is change the path.”
“So,” says Oliver, “for $180, we moved the
path up the hill.”
He laughs as he tells the story. But what really
comes across is how much he loves the opportu-
nity to interact with these wildly creative minds.
“Artists just think differently,” he says. “They
problem-solve differently.”
From Steve Oliver, there could be no higher
form of praise. n
Martin Puryear’s “Untitled” consists of a stone wall
and a rounded, hollow form, similar to a grotto. A
grille on the other side offers interior views.
