Auburn has some new residents, well, at least until September. This is an excerpt from the local paper.
"AUBURN — More than two dozen life-like guests arrived in Auburn Thursday to stay for the summer.For the next three months, the figures in J. Seward Johnson’s bronze sculptures will catch local residents and tourists off guard with their realism.Warren Johnson of Auburn said he did a “double-take” when he first noticed one of the sculptures of a little girl. Johnson was snapping photos of the sculptures this morning.“I thought I would get out here before the crowd,” Johnson said, adding that he is in awe of the sculptures. “It’s unbelievable what you can do with metal,” he said.The art work is part of Sculptures on the Square, a three-month exhibit sponsored by the Auburn Arts Commission Inc. in partnership with the Fort Wayne Museum of Art and the Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne, School of Visual and Performing Arts.The exhibit features 20 statues portraying people and children engaged in everyday activities such as talking on a park bench, mowing or tying a shoelace."
Most of the statues are placed around the DeKalb County Courthouse square and within walking distance of downtown, with two more at Eckhart Public Library on South Jackson Street and one at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum on Wayne Street.Dylan Tatman, 10, of Corunna, found the sculptures fascinating. He stood outside his parents’ coffee shop — Brewdaily’s on South Main Street — this morning and stared at the sculptures for several minutes.“I think the guy who made them — he really put a lot of hard work into it,” Tatman said. “He really wanted to get this done. He didn’t want to waste any time.”Looking at a sculpture of a boy and girl facing each other with an ice cream cone in their hands, Tatman particularly admired the detail of the girl’s white dress.Like many who observed the statues this morning, Tatman thought the sculptures looked real. He mentioned that he saw several cars one block west of the courthouse stop to let what they believed was a elderly lady with shopping bags cross the street. But the lady is really one of the statues.“I think they look real,” agreed Ruby Coburn of Hamilton.“I was impressed by their clothes,” said Coburn’s sister, Joan Steffen of Leo, while on her way to work at Campbell and Fetter Bank in Auburn. “I thought they were pretty cool.”“I think they will bring people in from other towns,” said Jeanne Stephens of Waterloo as she headed to work at the courthouse Friday morning.Organizers expect the exhibit to attract visitors from all over the Midwest. The project has been widely promoted through area and regional travel and tourism publications. The exhibit will coincide with the annual Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival over Labor Day weekend.Auburn is one of only four cities in the world displaying Seward’s statues this summer. They also will be in Florida, North Carolina and Cortina, Italy.Numerous activities will take place in DeKalb County in conjunction with the exhibit, including a fine arts day camp, Arts in the Libraries programs, a series of art lectures and a summer art book club."
I happen to personally know Dylan, so the fact that he is in the paper is really cool.
Ayron and I were coming home from the library, and I had an idea, but I don't know who to pitch the idea too. I am thinking about contacting the editor of the paper, but let me know if you can think of anyone else to contact. I think it would be interesting to hold a writing contest. Have people pick their favorite statue and write a brief story about the person in the statue. What are they doing, thinking, saying, etc. Then, after a certain amount of time, have a panel of judges choose the top three stories for each statue. Then, it could be published in a book. I think I'm gonna email my idea to the editor right now.
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On Friday night Ayron and I went out with his parents and then took a walk around downtown. I love the statues. I agree with Michael and Natty's comments. BTW Todd, no, none of your tax money was spent to increase the artsy awareness of Auburn. It was fun to see all of the people out and about. We ran into so many people and even stopped to have some popcorn at "Martha's Popcorn" stand.
I did send my idea to the editor as well as the Auburn Arts Commission and here is the email I got back from the AAC
"Thanks for the great idea.I have passed it on to the members of the Arts Commission and we are looking for a sponsor to see if the writing program can be carried out. I'm so glad that you liked the sculptures. "
Hopefully something will come out of it, if not, at least I can say that I tried.
9 comments:
The writing project: totally cool idea! Run with it.
I had to laugh at the line about the person who stopped to let the old lady with shopping bags statue cross the street. I wonder how many accidents she'll end up causing??
I emailed the editor of the paper as well as the Auburn Arts Commission so hopefully we'll see what comes of it. Even if they don't like it, Kianne and I are going to write our own stories. They are really freakishly cool. As Ayron and I were driving home we played the "can you tell who is real and who is a statue" game. It's hard to tell! The paper says there are 24 of them, so tonight, on our date night, we are going to attempt find and take pictures of all of them. I think the two kids flying a kite outside of Crickets is funny. "Lets put the kids by the bar." Hahah
Maybe I'm just an old fuddy-duddy, but I certainly hope my taxes are not going to fund this.
@ Todd: Why not? The arts have always and will always be a tourists attraction. If our tax dollars (well, yours because I don't live in Auburn anymore) can bring in a growth in tourists dollars at time other than when we have car shows, then it's a sound investment. People stopping by to see the statues will also look around down-town, stop in stores and buy stuff they really don't need. Increase in store revenue means more taxable income, which mean more money for the county, which means the county can fund other more vital projects. It's all a market game, plus i think the statues are fun!
Indeed, Michael. I'd much rather have my tax $ being spent on the arts than, say, oh... the war. Militarization. A corrupt and abusive prison system that criminalizes poverty and minorities rather than working toward rehabilitation and equity. Or subsidizing irresponsible corporations' abuse of its employees (a la Wal-Mart). Or, ... well, you get the idea...
@Natty: Umm... don't think I said all that. Let's keep from putting words into my mouth.
I never said you said that. I agreed with your stance on the importance of the arts, and elaborated with my own opinion.
Thanks for the link to your blog. I will email/comment about the adoption stuff when I have a little more time, but I have got to ask about Martha's Popcorn. I grew up in Dekalb County and was in Auburn daily. We were on the swim team at the YMCA and took dance, piano, karate in Auburn. We used to walk to this tiny window and my dad would buy us popcorn from "Martha". Is there still such a stand?
Amanda
I think I was misunderstood.
I am all for funding the arts. Now, this man who created these statues is very skilled, yet I fail to see how this beautifies anything. Nor do I believe that having these mannequins downtown will increase spending. If we had something like a display of the burial goods of Tutankhamen,or paintings from the Louvre perhaps. But not random bronze sculptures of people.
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