Mt. Vernon Register-News

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October 29, 2008

Sculpture commissioned for courthouse

By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — A new sculpture will be placed on the southwest corner of the Jefferson County Courthouse, commissioned as part of the Cedarhurst Sculpture Competition.

“It’s beautiful,” Jefferson County Board Chairman Ted Buck told the board on Monday. “It is patterned after the flame of the Statue of Liberty and is appropriate for the memorial walk area.”

Buck reminded members of the board that when he was elected to the board in 2004, the first board action was to remove the metal sculpture of a bull because it was “inappropriate.”

Buck said various groups, including Art in the City — which placed the metal bull sculpture on the courthouse grounds — had been looking for a replacement.

The sculpture is based on the torch of the Statue of Liberty, and created by Fritz Olsen of Sawyer, Mich., and was the winner of the national Cedarhurst Sculpture Competition, according to David Wood, one of the competition organizers.

“The competition was part of the Cedarhurst Counselor’s program,” Wood said. “I had urged Olsen to enter the competition, because it’s the same artist that created the little girl sculpture that was placed at Franklin School as part of Art in the City when I was part of that.”

Two private donations of $50,000 and $30,000 plus a grant of $25,000 from the Downtown Mt. Vernon Development Corporation went to the competition, in which three pieces are chosen for commission — one for the grounds of the museum at Cedarhurst; one for a private business or industry and one on public property. The competition will be held every two years.

The statue, with base, is part of the $25,000 commission, Wood said. There were 166 pieces in the competition, with the curator of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., as the judge.

Buck said the sculpture will be created of white marble, and once set, will stand 11 foot tall, and be surrounded by the Junior Master Gardener rose garden.

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