Prince-themed sculpture will soon find a new home

Renee Berg, The Free Press, Mankato, Minn.
·3 min read

May 7—By Renee Berg rberg@mankatofreepress.com

The hype is building in New Ulm as the soon-to-be new home for a piece of art commemorating Prince. And "it isn't even here yet," the New Ulm Chamber of Commerce president said.

A 14-foot Prince-themed sculpture will be moved from Mankato to New Ulm on May 21.

Jefferson Davis, the artist who created the sculpture, will move it from Mankato's CityArt Walking Sculpture Tour to its new home at the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame in New Ulm.

Sarah Warmka, New Ulm Chamber of Commerce president, said their recent Facebook post about the sculpture being moved to New Ulm reached 400,000 people. It was one of their most popular Facebook posts ever, second only to a 2018 post about a Vikings Skol chant.

"Tourism is definitely a huge part of our economy," she said. "Already we're seeing an increase in traffic from people coming to see Prince things on display at the museum."

The guitar-shaped sculpture will be placed on a cement footing in front of the museum and will join more than 50 pieces of Prince memorabilia displayed inside the Hall of Fame.

The collection was largely curated by Joel King, president of the Prince Legacy Project and a former employee of Prince's. King has been awarded thousands of dollars in funding from the Carl and Verna Schmidt Foundation to put together an exhibit honoring the famous musician.

At the Minnesota Hall of Fame, a room devoted to Prince memorabilia houses a Prince statue, bench, street sign, director's chair, poster, guitar and a mural, among other treasures.

The latest piece, the Prince-themed sculpture, was originally going to be located in Henderson, Minnesota, where King had a Prince display, but for various reasons New Ulm will be its home.

Everything Prince-related will be housed under one roof at the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame.

"It'll be there forever," King said of the Mankato sculpture. "I'm so happy he's in a safe place."

"We're absolutely excited," Warmka added. "It is not just the Prince guitar sculpture but a ton of work has been done on the inside Prince exhibit. It's really pretty impressive."

Davis, who lives in Woodbine, Iowa, said he designed the sculpture so it could be enjoyed by many people from all over the world.

"Things definitely worked out as they were supposed to," he said. "There was a lot of love put into that piece and every single part of it is relative, in some way, to Prince's incredible but tragically too short career. I'm glad it can be there in New Ulm.

"I've always been a Prince fan but now I'm an insider in the Prince community," he said. "I've gained an army, a purple Prince family, and I love every single one of them."

Davis won a People's Choice award for the Mankato sculpture. The Minnesota Music Hall of Fame administrator John Kass said he expects visitors from around the world will check it out.

"It will be right on Broadway, right on the main drag of New Ulm," Kass said. "The Music Hall of Fame specializes in taking care of music memorabilia by Minnesota artists, and I can't think of a better place for it to end up other than right at our front door."