This year’s Public Art Bridgeville display of outdoor sculptures is now complete. It is an appealing combination of new pieces and welcome carryovers, spanning the spectrum from realistic to abstract in a variety of forms. The easiest way for us to review them is by taking a tour through “downtown Bridgeville” with an unsophisticated art critic as a guide. He will meet you at La Bella Bean for coffee and a midday snack before initiating the tour.
Our first stop is at the bench in the adjacent parking lot facing Washington Avenue. There we find “Crossing Paths”, an extremely popular piece carrying over from last year’s exhibit. This is a product of the Seward Johnson atelier and a perfect example of their ability to create lifelike replicas of real people. “Crossing Paths” is a time travel experience with the clock set one century ago. Two immaculately dressed ladies have (accidentally?) met and stopped to gossip on a convenient bench. Every detail of the sculpture shrieks of the 1920s.
A short jaunt north on Washington Avenue takes us to Parking Lot # 1 on the other side of the street where we spot “Mother and Daughter” and immediately conclude, “Dan Droz”. And indeed, one of our favorite local artists, Dan Droz, is responsible for this impressionistic piece. He is a miracle worker at cutting figures from thin steel plates and orienting them at different angles to produce interesting sculptures. From several perspectives this piece obviously represents a mother and her child. Interestingly, he has chosen the three primary colors to paint this piece. It is certainly a welcome addition to the exhibit.
A block north of the Droz sculpture is the intersection of Bower Hill Road and Washington Avenue. On its northeast corner are three graceful pylons, each sporting colorful appendages. My appreciation of this sculpture, “Feather”, by Kirk Seese, of Lutherville, Maryland, has grown each time I drive up Bower Hill Road to the intersection. Immediately I am transported to a magical kingdom. Sometimes it is Camelot and I look up Washington Avenue expecting to see King Arthur on a mighty steed, with his lance pointing to the sky. On other occasions Bower Hill Road is paved with yellow bricks, and Dorothy and her entourage are dancing down it.
On the southeast corner of the intersection is another welcome carryover, “Hyperbolic Wind”, the creation of Bob Doster, of Lancaster, South Carolina. He is fascinated by the effect wind has on flexible objects. In this case, his polished stainless-steel pieces deformed into hyperbolas clearly suggest this effect. The engineer/mathematician in me immediately wishes I was gifted enough to determine what shape would indeed deform in this fashion.
Our next stop is at Triangle Park on Station Street, where we are delighted to see that “Monet, Our Visiting Artist” has been carried over. Another product of the Seward Johnson Atelier, this gentleman has been a very popular visitor to Bridgeville. Social media was full of photos of him, and of the ladies on the La Bella Bean bench, last winter when both sculptures were garnished with several inches of snow. Here my time travel clock is confused; just when did he arrive to begin his painting of the railroad station? Or is his subject the Library, fifty years ago? Or the History Center today?
Still in Triangle Park, but on the opposite side of the Gazebo, is another new arrival in this year’s exhibit, “Infinity”, by Ray Katz, of Pontiac, Michigan. Like Messrs. Droz and Doster, Mr. Katz is certainly a “wish-I-were” mathematician. His work is dominated by intersecting three-dimensional figures. This sculpture has a portion of one helix intertwined with a portion of another, with a torus wrapped around the pair of them. It is an intriguing work of curved rectangular box-sections, in brushed aluminum. Each time I inspect it, I find another dimension to it. My only complaint is with its title; it doesn’t fit my mathematical perception of infinity.
Our last stop is at the Bridgeville Public Library where another popular carryover now resides — Peter Calaboyias’ magnificent “Daphne”. This subject of a Greek myth in which a fleeing maiden is rescued by being turned into a hybrid laurel tree/woman seems very much at home in her residence among the trees around the circle in the parking lot. Daphne is a symbol of purity and freedom and of the merging between humans and nature. Calaboyias’ sculpture portrays these concept perfectly. How do we categorize her? She is a realistic manifestation of a fantasy figure. Her category hardly matters; we must be grateful she is with us for another year.
I hope you have enjoyed the sculptures as much as I have. I don’t have a favorite in this group of seven pieces. I like the way the two Seward Johnson works give me a feeling of nostalgia, a wish that I could spend a few minutes in their worlds. I like the way “Feather” stirs my imagination; is that really the Tin Woodman? I like the way “Daphne” projects so much more than the simple Greek story; our entanglement with nature is much greater than we usually appreciate. And I really like the mathematical logic behind “Hyperbolic Winds”, “Infinity”, and “Mother and Child”; those three sculptors subconsciously think like mathematicians. I would be delighted to see any or all of these pieces on permanent display in Bridgeville, but I will be equally delighted to see a few of them replaced each year with equally interesting sculptures.
Our sincere thanks to the Public Art Bridgeville folks and their sponsors for all they do to enhance public culture in the community. I know of no other place in our region where one can see such a wide variety of outstanding contemporary works. Although I acknowledge my ignorance when it comes to appreciating fine art, I cherish the opportunity to sample it all and to enjoy it.