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City Hall sculpture plan impresses council
(by Mike Klimko - November 19, 2008)
City Hall sculpture plan impresses council
By MIKE KLIMKO
Years of fund-raising efforts by volunteers in Solon may pay off following City Council's review Monday of a sculpture proposed for the main entrance to City Hall.
Members of council said they are impressed with "Lightscape XXIII," a 12-foot-tall creation of Peninsula sculptor Carol Adams designed to portray the history of the community. The sculpture was commissioned earlier this year by council's safety and public properties committee.
City officials had $10,000 to spend for artwork from money raised by the former Solon Beautification Commission.
Council disbanded the commission and several other citizens advisory committees last year, as recommended by Mayor Kevin C. Patton. The commission had targeted $10,000 for a new work of art.
The committee recommended last week that the proposed sculpture be reviewed by council.
The work by Ms. Adams was one of five proposals and models submitted, according to Karen Prasser, Solon Center for the Arts director.
"I like it," Councilman Edward H. Kraus said of the sculpture during the committee meeting. "It's interesting. It will draw people in. We need to pique someone's curiosity, to check it out."
Proposals were due Sept. 12, Ms. Prasser said. On Sept. 15, arts center staff and former commission members Carol Daniloff, Terri Napoli and Joyce Ritchie reviewed the entries.
Top entries were shown to Councilmen and safety committee members William I. Russo and Edward K. Suit, and a consensus was reached on the creation by Ms. Adams, Ms. Prasser said.
The sculpture is based on a list of community qualities defined by the safety and public properties committee and members of the commission, Ms. Adams said. "For your project, I have invented a series of cubes and triangles that are building blocks with which to merge the list of words created by your community," she wrote in a letter to the committee.
"Each will be illustrated with enamel on steel images from abstract to realistic," she said of the surfaces. "The lower ones will show the original founding buildings and the builders of your city," she said. "And they will continue to grow to now. This process will take some research on my part, so my illustrations for this model are only some of the possibilities."
Upon receiving a commission from the city, Ms. Adams said, she will research the history of Solon, including photographs and interviews with residents.
"Its shapes are energetic and climb upward, as has the city," Ms. Adams said of the sculpture. "It can be lit with a fixture that slowly changes color. This will cause different parts of the painting to leap forward as the color changes," she said.
"Enamel on steel is an extremely sound construction material, as it is totally ultraviolet resistant and is basically glass fired onto metal. It is easily cleanable and allows for beautiful color application. It is fired in a kiln and therefore very permanent."
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