Spoon and cherry to be reuinited Friday

Photo courtesy of the Walker Art Center

We know that plain white spoon at the Walker Art Center's Sculpture Garden has been stressing out everyone in Minneapolis, but the reunion is coming soon. After getting a fresh new coat of red paint, the Walker will plop that sucker right back where it belongs Friday morning.

The cherry was removed February 23 and the cleaning and repainting took a total of 10 weeks in Hugo.

Head over to the Sculpture Garden sometime before noon to see the reunion live. We hope you have something better to do with your Friday morning.

The cherry atop "Spoonbridge and Cherry," the sculpture garden's centerpiece, was removed February 23 and transported to Hugo, Minn., where it was given a fresh coat of paint. After nearly 10 weeks of restoration, the cherry will be reunited with the spoon sometime just before noon May 1, the Walker Art Center reported. Designed by husband-and-wife team Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, "Spoonbridge and Cherry" was installed in the garden in 1988. Since then, the cherry has been repainted three times, most recently in 2006. This was the first time the 1,200-pound steel orb was removed and completely stripped of paint. It was then covered in six coats of protective undercoating, two coats of black and red marine-grade paint and a final clear coat to protect the paint from ultraviolet rays, the Walker reported.