GREENFIELD — About 50 people gathered Feb. 1 for the unveiling of a new art installation at the Hancock County Public Library in Greenfield.
Nationally known artist Chris Sickels, who has lived in Greenfield the past 20 years, shared his newest artwork — “Over, Under & Beyond” — a mixed media piece depicting woodland creatures in various states of relaxation and recreation.
The 5-foot-long, 3-and-a-half-foot-tall art piece sits just inside the Children’s Room entrance of the library, where a large fish tank had taken up residence since the library first opened in November 2005.
When it became evident that the aging tank would be too expensive to replace, the Friends of the Library nonprofit stepped up by offering a stipend to commission Sickels for a permanent art piece.
Sickels’ unique style of art is beloved by legions of fans, as evidenced by his success through his home-based Red Nose Studio.
The artist is both an illustrator and animation enthusiast, with a knack for bringing whimsical characters to life.
For “Over, Under & Beyond,” Sickels created a crew of characters, including an adventure-seeking deer named John, a unicycle riding fox named Tipsy, and a beaver named Toothpick with a penchant for reforestation.
The characters join a book-loving bird named Winger, which came to life when Sickels created a 30-inch-tall tree house sculpture for the library about five years ago. An image of the spiral tree house was used on a special-edition library card.
The library’s marketing manager, Kyle Turpin, suggested Sickels expand upon the tree house design by creating a world around it.
“Just as a good book can open up new worlds, we thought we could open up new worlds with this art piece,” said Sickels, who spent roughly 200 hours last month creating the installation, which features an outdoor scene including two tall pine trees, a ravine, a cliff and a crystal blue stream with a frog swimming through it.
His first step was creating a full-scale markup of the overall design out of cardboard, which he placed within the glass case the library had built for the piece.
He then carved the tall trees from pine wood and used birch plywood to create the woodland environment.
He incorporated mixed media to create the three new characters, molding their bodies from clay and hand sewing their tiny clothes.
Alice Hedden, president of Hancock County Arts, was amazed by the artist’s attention to detail.
“It’s so creative,” said Hedden, who has long been a big fan of Sickels’ work.
The arts council’s gallery — Twenty North — has a scaled-down model of one of his most prominent local works of art — a trolley mural which now hangs on train car near Depot Street Park.
Bob Buenger, president of Hancock County’s Friends of the Library group, was happy to see so many turn out to see Sickels’ work Thursday night.
“We like to do things that support the library and literacy throughout the area, and one way to attract people into the library is to do something that’s unique and eye-catching like this,” he said.
Buenger thanked the public for their ongoing support of the Friends of the Library, which raises funds through membership dues, fundraisers and ongoing book sales, with a shop set up just inside the library entrance.
With an art piece as detailed and nuanced as “Over, Under & Beyond,” he hopes children and their families will be able to discover some fun new details each time they visit.
Sickels said he looks forward to gradually expanding the world within the art piece, and seeing what new characters might want to join Winger, Tipsy, Toothpick and John.
“It’s been a fun journey working on it,” said Sickels, a longtime supporter and patron of the local library.
With four children ages 9 through 19, he and his family have been frequent visitors to the library over the years.
In addressing the crowd before Thursday’s unveiling, Sickels thanked the library for inviting him to display his work there.
“I also want to thank my family for tolerating my messy process,” he said.