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One Civic Square Carmel, IN 46032
Contact: Nancy Heck
E-Mail: nheck@carmel.in.gov
Phone: (317) 571-2494
Nancy Heck
The
Department of Community Relations
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City of Carmel
One Civic Square Carmel, IN 46032
News Release
Date:
May 22, 2008
Contact:
Nancy Heck
(317) 571-2494
Release:
Immediate
Public Art Unveiling in the Arts and
Design District
Carmel, IN – The City of Carmel will unveil the
newest addition to its J. Seward Johnson sculpture
collection tomorrow, Friday, May 23rd at 4:30 p.m. in the
Arts & Design District. This statue, called “Unconditional
Surrender,” will be placed in its temporary location in
front of Artisan Masterpiece, located at 19 East Main
Street. The Friday of Memorial Day weekend was chosen as the
date of the unveiling due to the statue’s patriotic theme.
It replicates the famous photograph taken on WWII’s VJ Day
depicting a sailor kissing a nurse in New York’s Times
Square. There is also a Gallery Walk being held in the Arts
& Design District immediately following the unveiling from
5-10 p.m.
This statue has been paid for out of the city’s “Support for
the Arts” fund, which represents roughly 1% of the city’s
budget. It will complement the city’s current collection of
sculptures from this artist and expand our walkable outdoor
museum of J. Seward Johnson sculptures in the Arts & Design
District. Johnson has been referred to as the “Norman
Rockwell of American Sculpture.” The unique design of the
sculptures turns heads because of their life-like
appearance. He uses a technique to apply paint to the bronze
sculpture making the life-size pieces appear realistic. Only
eight of each sculpture design are ever created in order to
ensure their exclusivity.
“The addition of these realistic sculptures enhances the
enjoyment of a visit to the Carmel Arts & Design District.
Visitors to the area will be able to discover the sculptures
as they shop and dine in the area. Many will stop and have
their picture taken with the sculpture to capture the
moment. We realize the tremendous impact that the arts have
on economic development and are investing in the district to
help attract customers and businesses to the area,” said
Mayor Jim Brainard.
The city’s collection of J. Seward Johnson statues are part
of its initiative of designating the city’s Old Town area as
the Arts & Design District. Since the city’s commitment to
the revitalization of Old Town through investment in
infrastructure and redevelopment efforts through the Carmel
Redevelopment Commission, this area has been transformed
from vacant storefronts to a thriving shopping and dining
destination of more than 100 businesses, many of them
arts-related.
Statues currently included in Carmel’s
walkable outdoor museum are the following:
· “First Ride” – unveiled December 10, 2005;
along Monon Trail just south of Main Street; depicts
father helping daughter learn to ride a bike;
purchased by the City of Carmel
· “Sidewalk Concert” – unveiled April 20,
2006; outside Carmel Music Store on north side of
Main Street just east of Lurie Gallery of Art; shows
a violinist serenading passers by; purchased by the
Carmel Redevelopment Commission and Carmel Economic
Development Committee
· “There, Now You Can Grow” – unveiled April
20, 2006; just outside World’s Smallest Children’s
Art Gallery on the northeast corner of Main Street
and 1st Avenue NW; small girl watering flowers;
purchased by the City of Carmel
· “Confirming Predictions” – unveiled April
20, 2006; located on a bench just outside Arts &
Design District office; man in suit reading stock
market information; purchased by the City of Carmel
· “Holding Out” – installed in front of Joe’s
Meat and Fish Market on the south side of Main
Street; depicts an older woman holding shopping
bags; purchased by the City of Carmel
J. Seward Johnson wasn’t always a sculpture; he
started as a painter and then, in 1968, he decided to try
his hand at the medium of sculpture and has focused on
life-size bronze cast figures. It turned out to be a great
decision, as more than 200 pieces of Johnson’s work have
been featured in private collections in the United States,
Canada, Europe and Asia, as well as prominent public places
such as Rockefeller Center and the World Trade Center in New
York City and Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver, Canada.
Johnson's work has also been selected for the International
Sculpture Conference Exhibition and is sited in Washington,
D.C. on a long term loan. He has also had exhibitions in the
Galleria Ca D'oro, Piazza di Spagna, Rome, the RW Norton Art
Museum, the Knoxville Museum of Art, the Wave Hill Sculpture
Park, the Jacksonville Art Museum at Yale University, and
solo exhibitions in Connecticut, New Jersey, Texas,
California, New York, Washington, D.C., as well as in Mexico
and Canada.
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