Contributions are adding up to purchase "Yo-Yo's Muse," a mobile sculpture, for Kingsport.
The Cultural Arts Division of the City of Kingsport is pleased to announce that local artist and philanthropist Alice Frederick has purchased and donated the sculpture "Sky Wedge" to the City of Kingsport.
"Sky Wedge" is one of 11 sculptures placed in Downtown Kingsport as part of Kingsport's first annual Sculpture Walk. Hank Foreman, director and chief curator of the Turchin Center for Visual Arts served as the exhibits curator. Foreman selected pieces that represent a great diversity of styles, materials, techniques and ideas. "Sky Wedge" is a steel, bronze and cast glass sculpture by New York artist Glenn Zweygardt.
Zweygardt created "Sky Wedge" as an homage to human survival and creativity. He said, "Finding one's place in a relationship with nature is the theme of my sculpture.. while working with material such as metal and stone, a relationship between nature and myself is formed. Further, I want to tell stories and comment on my collective life experience and my perception of a collective consciousness," explained Zweygardt.
Frederick moved to Kingsport nine years ago to join her son, the owner of Diamond Exchange. She is no stranger to art. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Syracuse University. She is also an active volunteer, using her skills as an artist to raise funds for Hope Haven House at an open house/auction last year as well as to decorate Meals on Wheels boxes for diabetic meals prepared out of the Colonial Heights Baptist Church.
"I was delighted by the Sculpture Walk Exhibition and the quality of art it brought to our city," Frederick says. "It adds so much to our downtown. It is important to have art in our lives. I hope this donation might encourage others to help add art to our community."
Jennifer Egan is interested in purchasing "Yo-Yo's Muse" for Kingsport. She has committed $10,000 toward the purchase price of this $32,000 mobile sculpture, located at the intersection of Broad and New Streets. "Yo-Yo's Muse" is a kinetic sculpture, spinning, drifting and floating in response to the breeze. At the base of the sculpture is a cello-shaped form.
Sculptor Mike Roig explains, "One way I think of sculpture is as visual music. Fashioned in the mind and by the hand of its maker, it is an entity unto itself claiming a place in this world by fact of being. Like music, its claim has the ephemeral quality of the non-utilitarian, and like music, it is celebrated for its ability to heighten the senses and add savor to our lives. Like music it stands sentry at gateways to days remarkable for their qualities of surprise, thought, wonder, and contemplation, rather than merely marked in their pass quantities."
Egan recently lost her mother who, prior to her death, suffered from Alzheimer's. "My mother was a cellist," she said. "This piece is just beautiful and I'd love for it to stay in Kingsport and remind us all of the gift of music and art." Egan's commitment has already been matched by a $3,000 contribution from anonymous benefactors.
Other pieces of the Sculpture Walk Exhibition have also become favorites of the community. All are available for purchase. The pieces are on loan until April 2008 when they will be return to the artists unless they have been purchased. The 2008-2009 Sculpture Walk will be installed in May with a grand opening scheduled for May 29. The Sculpture Walk is a project of the Kingsport Public Art Committee, assisted by the Cultural Arts Division and in partnership with the Arts Council of Greater Kingsport. The exhibition is primarily funded through private contributions as well as through the Tennessee Arts Commission's Arts Builds Communities programs.
Donations for next year's temporary exhibition are currently being accepted and can be mailed to Sculpture Walk Exhibition, Arts Council of Greater Kingsport, 1200 East Center Street, Kingsport, TN 37660. To contribute to the purchase of "Yo-Yo's Muse" or to inquire for purchase of other sculptures, contact the Cultural Arts Division at 423-392-8414.
