"Spoonbridge and Cherry is a sculptural fountain designed by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. It was funded by a $500,000 donation from art collector Frederick R. Weisman and is permanently located in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. The piece was completed and installed in 1988 for the Sculpture Garden's opening and consists of a large cherry resting atop a large spoon partially straddling a small pond,"  Wikipedia says.

"The piece was fabricated between 1987 and 1988 at two shipyards, one in Boothbay, Maine, and the other in Bristol, Rhode Island, and finished in New Haven, Connecticut, at sculpture fabricator Lippincott, Inc. It was placed in the northern portion of the Sculpture Garden by two cranes on May 9, 1988. The Sculpture Garden held opening ceremonies September 9–11 of that year, with an official dedication on September 10 featuring a band of spoon players.

"Spoonbridge and Cherry measures 30 by 52 by 13 feet (9 m × 15.7 m × 4.1 m) and straddles a small pond built in the shape of a linden tree seed, evoking the lindens in the surrounding park. The pond's shores were lined with irises and reeds. The sculpture is built from stainless steel and aluminum and coated with polyurethane enamel. The cherry portion of the piece weighs 1,199 pounds (544 kg) while the spoon portion weighs 5,800 pounds (2,630 kg). The sculpture emits filtered water from both the tip and the base of the cherry's stem, the latter intended to keep the cherry gleaming in the light.

"Within a decade of the Sculpture Garden's opening, the Star Tribune reported that Spoonbridge was "something of an icon for the Walker". In 2001, Eric Dregni wrote that the sculpture had "become the unofficial symbol of Minneapolis" and in 2008, City Pages described it as "one of the Twin Cities' most iconic images." The Walker reported receiving more requests for images of Spoonbridge and Cherry than any other work in its collections."

"This giant spoon and cherry was erected in 1985 by artist Claes Oldenburg and his wife, Coosje van Bruggen and is the centerpiece of the Walker Art Center’s Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, the largest urban sculpture park in the world," the Atlas Obscura says.

"The spoon itself weighs 5,800 pounds and the cherry, another 1,200 pounds. The cherry’s stem also acts as a fountain which sprays into the bowl of the spoon and off into the pond beneath. Even the pond itself has meaning, being shaped to resemble a linden seed, drawing attention to the rows of linden trees planted nearby.

"The city of Minneapolis seems to have largely embraced the massive sculpture, expressing almost universal outrage when Spoonbridge and Cherry was vandalized in 2012 as part of a “Kony 2012” protest. The artwork was cleaned up and still remains as a somewhat goofy, definitely unforgettable icon of the Minnesota city."

"Spoonbridge and Cherry, by the pop artists Claes Oldenburg and his wife Coosje van Bruggen, was the first commissioned work for the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden in 1988. The pair is known for making large-scale sculptures of ordinary objects, whether they be an ice cream cone, electric plug, or a big bag of French fries," the Mpls.St.Paul Magazine says.

"According to the Walker, "The fountain-sculpture was inspired by a novelty item Oldenburg had collected in 1962, featuring a spoon resting on an 'island' of plastic chocolate. From this, the artists envisioned a gigantic utensil as a fanciful bridge over a pond. In considering Minnesota as a site, they compared the spoon’s raised bowl to the prow of a Viking ship or a duck bobbing in a lake. Van Bruggen added the cherry, a personal symbol recalling happy moments in a childhood clouded by World War II."

"Explore more than 60 sculptures from the Walker’s collection on 11 scenic acres in the heart of Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is free, open to the public, and is open from 6 am to 12 midnight every day," the Walker Art Center says.

"Since opening in 1988, the Garden has welcomed millions of visitors, showcasing works from the Walker Art Center’s renowned collections of modern and contemporary art in the setting of an urban park. The Garden is a partnership between the Walker and the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, a national award-winning park system.

"A giant ice cream cone, a huge electric plug, an enormous bag of French fries—with his surprising representations of everyday things, Claes Oldenburg became a key voice in Pop Art, a 1960s movement that saw many artists turning to advertising and consumer products for subject matter. By the early 1980s, he had begun to make monumental outdoor works with Coosje van Bruggen, his wife and artistic partner. Spoonbridge and Cherry is one of their most celebrated collaborations. It was the first work commissioned for the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, which opened in 1988.

"The fountain-sculpture was inspired by a novelty item Oldenburg had collected in 1962, featuring a spoon resting on an “island” of plastic chocolate. From
this, the artists envisioned a gigantic utensil as a fanciful bridge over a pond.
In considering Minnesota as a site, they compared the spoon’s raised bowl to the prow of a Viking ship or a duck bobbing in a lake. Van Bruggen added the cherry, a personal symbol recalling happy moments in a childhood clouded by World War II. At more than 50 feet long, Spoonbridge and Cherry has delighted visitors ever since and is now a familiar and iconic symbol for the Twin Cities."

"Claes Oldenburg was a major figure in the Pop Art movement, along with folks like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. As the ’80s arrived, he started creating large outdoor works with his wife, Coosje van Bruggen. This sculpture was reportedly inspired by a toy Oldenburg acquired 20 years earlier, a spoon resting on a pile of plastic chocolate. He added the cherry to his conception as a nod to happy moments from his childhood," the Quirky Travel Guy says.

"Spoonbridge and Cherry measures 51.5 feet long, 29.5 feet tall, and 13.5 feet wide. The spoon itself weighs a staggering 5800 pounds, while the cherry weighs 1199 pounds. It sits atop a small pond, which is appropriate since the Twin Cities have a ton of lakes and beaches.

"In addition to its aluminum and stainless steel construction, the sculpture is coated in polyurethane enamel, which creates the glossy finish. The sculpture has been repainted a couple times, including in 1995 and 2012. One of the things I didn’t realize from looking at pictures of the Minneapolis cherry spoon is that the top of the cherry is actually a fountain. You can see the stream of water shooting out when you look at the sculpture up close."

"In 1977 Oldenburg married Coosje van Bruggen, his second wife. The couple began to collaborate on commissions, and from 1981 her signature also appeared on their work," the Britannica says.

"They worked with architect Frank Gehry on the Main Street Project (1975–84) in Venice, California, and Camp Good Times (1984–85) in the Santa Monica Mountains.

"With van Bruggen, Oldenburg created such large-scale sculptures as Spoonbridge and Cherry (1985–88) for the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, as well as a soft sculpture of an oversized shuttlecock specially for a 1995 retrospective of his work at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City."

"Pop artist Claes Oldenburg, who turned the mundane into the monumental through his outsized sculptures of a baseball bat, a clothespin and other objects — including “Spoonbridge and Cherry” at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden — has died at age 93.

"Oldenburg died Monday morning in Manhattan, according to his daughter, Maartje Oldenburg. He had been in poor health since falling and breaking his hip a month ago. The Swedish-born Oldenburg drew on the sculptor’s eternal interest in form, the dadaist’s breakthrough notion of bringing readymade objects into the realm of art, and the pop artist’s ironic, outlaw fascination with lowbrow culture — by reimagining ordinary items in fantastic contexts," the MPR News says.

"Oldenburg was born in 1929 in Stockholm, Sweden, son of a diplomat. But young Claes (pronounced klahs) spent much of his childhood in Chicago, where his father served as Swedish consul general for many years. Oldenburg eventually became a U.S. citizen. As a young man, he studied at Yale and the Art Institute of Chicago and worked for a time at Chicago’s City News Bureau. He settled in New York by the late 1950s, but at times has also lived in France and California."

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