For the third straight year, Public Art Bridgeville is sponsoring an outdoor sculpture exhibit. This year’s exhibit includes three popular holdovers from last year and seven intriguing new ones. Let’s take a self-guided auto tour and check out all ten pieces.
We will begin driving south on Washington Avenue from Kirwan Heights. After we pass under the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad bridge, we see, on the right, a striking combination of interwoven curved blue shapes with an orange thread inter-twined with them. Immediately, we realize this must be one of Guy Bellaver’s “Quarks” series. And, of course, it is. When the Bellavers lived in Illinois, Guy became acquainted with the work being done at Fermilab studying elementary particles and photographic images of the collision of protons and antiprotons. One must be impressed with his imagination, converting that concept into a study of the relationship of positive and negative space, resulting in this very impressive series.
Next we encounter “# 17”, in the parking lot at 444 Washington Avenue. It is a collection of folded stainless-steel sheet metal plates oriented vertically. From one direction it suggests the modern architectural style of the buildings in Pittsburgh’s Gateway Center; from another it’s more like a collection of left-handed Nazis, each saluting “Heil Hitler”. The sculptor is the late Peter Calaboyias, a celebrated local artist with a distinguished career.
He was born on the Greek Aegean island of Ikaria in 1940; his family came to Johnstown in 1947. Peter studied art at Penn State and at IUP, then taught in the Pittsburgh City Schools, CCAC, and at Grove City College. Concurrently he began to turn out noteworthy sculptures, culminating in a solo exhibition at the Carnegie Museum of Art in 1972. He is best known for “Tribute”, commissioned for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, where it is permanently displayed.
A holdover, “Fiddlehead”, is now sited on the right, just beyond Sarasnick’s, “on the bridge”. Sculpted by Connecticut native David Boyajian, it was my overall favorite in last year’s exhibit; I am delighted to see it retained. Its combination of curves and reverse curves of weathered steel evoke different parts of my imagination each time I see it.
The most popular landmark in Bridgeville these days is the bench at the parking lot adjacent to La Bella Bean, populated each year by Seward Johnson trompe-l’oeil painted bronze figures; these year we are treated to two, a delightful pair of mid-twentieth century ladies entitled “Crossing Paths”. Immaculately dressed and coiffured, they are seated facing each other, engaged in a serious discussion. In addition to being perfectly life-like, the figures immediately initiate a feeling of nostalgia for an earlier time, a time when no lady would allow herself to be seen “downtown” unless she was formally dressed. The lady on the left has a cameo necklace which looks as if it were taken from the jewelry case on top of my mother’s dressing table. Her associate has a perky hat matching her suit, the necessary pair of gloves, and a pearl necklace. Who are these two? Based on the location (McGarvey’s front yard in 1944) one of them must be Orpha McGarvey; I can imagine seeing Capitola Poellot passing by and stopping for a conversation.
Since we longer can turn left onto Chartiers Street, let’s take a detour on Hickman to Chartiers via Chess and Church Streets, then up to Dewey and over to the Library on McMillen. Here is another popular holdover, Gary Kulak’s high-high chair “Red Dancer”. I continue to wonder if it mimics the perspective of a baby crawling on the kitchen floor.
Back on Dewey, in front of the Halcyon Senior Living Center, is “Family Portrait”, another fine example of the ingenuity of local sculptor Dan Droz. I am impressed at the way his choice of colors on the opposite sides of intersecting punctured planes adds another dimension to the artistic aspects of his work.
Now let’s take Dewey and Station Streets to Triangle Park for a double treat. First we encounter another Calaboyias masterpiece, “Daphne”, a stylistic depiction of the mythical Greek naiad who finally evaded Apollo by being turned into a tree. “In the Park”, another attractive Dan Droz sculpture, is close by. His ability to exploit his imagination with simple shapes and colors is remarkable.
Next let’s follow Railroad Street to Bower Hill Road, then turn left and inspect the lawn in front of the Borough Building. Sure enough, here is another life-like Seward Johnson piece, “Special Delivery”. A mail carrier, he is an authentic companion to the two ladies in “Crossing Paths”, a throwback to the days of impeccable uniforms and formal behavior.
The final stop of our tour is on the left at the Bower Hill/Washington Avenue intersection, where we find the third holdover (and personal favorite of mine), Bob Doster’s “Hyperbolic Wind”. Its homage to the elements is especially appropriate this time of year.
Whether it be music, literature, graphic art, or sculpture, I continue to ponder the differences between art with specific meaning and “art for art’s sake”. Congratulations to Public Art Bridgeville for another delightful exhibit that runs the gamut between both extremes. I am looking forward to their next event, the Pittsburgh Society of Sculptors indoor display at the Bridgeville Public Library. It opens April 20 and will run until May 17.