Art in the outdoors: Public arts projects planned to enhance city, county

What is art may be be a subject for debate, but if a number of organizations have their way, the question of where is art will have an easy answer: It will be throughout the community, on public view for everyone to enjoy.

The next installment of the Gadsden Public Arts Project is a commissioned kinetic sculpture, to be located in downtown Gadsden in the spring of 2023. It will be located near Gadsden City Hall and an existing piece of public art — the Welcome to Gadsden mural on First Street.

The sculpture has been commissioned from artist Harry McDaniel, as part of a project funded through a collaboration between Downtown Gadsden Inc., Walnut Gallery, the Gadsden Museum of Art, The Mary G. Hardin Center for Cultural Arts, The Chamber of Gadsden & Etowah County, Greater Gadsden Area Tourism, and the City of Gadsden, with additional support from the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Mario Gallardo, Gadsden State art instructor and director of the Walnut Gallery helped to organize the project along with DGI Director Kay Moore and Gadsden Museum of Art Director, Ray Wetzel.

Gallardo said of the project, "Public art contributes to the city's cultural identity and vitality, creating an environment that reflects diversity of thought and expression while also enhancing community and economic development. It is a win-win for this community."

Advertisements for the call for proposals were published nationwide through Americans for the Arts and the Southeast through the Mid-South Sculpture Alliance. The group received and reviewed numerous submissions and eventually narrowed them down to three.

The three finalists — New York artist Julia Sinelnikova, North Carolina artist Harry McDaniel and Alabama artist Craig Wedderspoon — were invited to present their concepts to the selection committee at a meeting held Nov. 17 at the Gadsden Museum of Art.

Wetzel, who has initiated multiple murals in the downtown area said, "I am excited that artists from across the country had an interest in placing a sculpture in Gadsden, Alabama."

Speaking about the selection process, Moore said, "All three artists presented excellent proposals. I would love for us to be able to purchase all three, but Harry McDaniel's proposal was selected because it was a purely kinetic sculpture that also relates to the river which is located only a short distance from the site."

McDaniel's winning proposal will be a wind-powered kinetic work, fabricated in brushed aluminum. In reference to the Coosa River, the design will feature abstract, fish-like forms that will turn and shift as the wind blows.

The sculpture, which will stand approximately 18 feet tall, will be installed outdoors in a green space, which is open and accessible to the public, at the corner of First and Broad streets in downtown Gadsden, across the street from City Hall.

Downtown visitors who have seen the "Welcome to Gadsden" mural will be familiar with the location. This space is highly visible and serves as a gateway to the Downtown area. The property owner, Phillip Williams, has agreed to host the sculpture long term.

The genesis for the project began in 2010 with a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts that allowed the Walnut Gallery and the Hardin Center to place several loaned sculptures on Broad Street for a two-year public exhibition.

The first two sculptures by Alabama artists Wedderspoon and Deedee Morrison are now on permanent display after being purchased through private fundraising and grant support from the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

In the following years, more sculptures were installed downtown; at Noccalula Falls; on Walnut Street, Tuscaloosa Avenue and Wall Street in Alabama City; and at the Gadsden Public Library.

Several have been purchased or donated, including "Oh, myopia" by Glenn Dasher, located at the Walnut Gallery, and "Just in Time" by Eric Nubbe, located in the Gadsden Public Library park.

The success of previous installs of public art sparked an idea by Moore when she secured a donation of $10,000 from PNC Bank to Downtown Gadsden Inc. in her honor earlier this year.  After visiting a kinetic art exhibit in Colorado, she wanted to see a kinetic sculpture in downtown Gadsden.

Moore reached out to Gallardo to see what could be done with the funds to purchase a wind-driven kinetic sculpture. He suggested they could be leveraged for more donations and grants to purchase a sculpture.

Moore quickly got an additional $5,000 grant from Regions Bank. Gallardo secured grant funding through Walnut Gallery from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and community partners to cover the purchase price of $25,000 and other associated costs.

Gallardo said everyone he reached out to agreed to contribute, making the project much more robust. He added that "public art is becoming something that we all want to see expand, including murals, festivals and live performances."

Moore added, "This is just the beginning of a larger work to expand public art in Gadsden and other communities in Etowah county."

More information about the project can be found at https://bit.ly/3FvmwM4.

This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Public art expansion planned in Gadsden area