Members of the county parks board and artists with the First City Public Sculpture Exhibition are partnering to help Knox County make an even greater mark on the Solar Eclipse in 2024.
Local artists Andy Jendrzejewski and Amy DeLap, owners of Art Space Vincennes, a downtown art gallery, went before board members Wednesday during their regular meeting held at Ouabache Trails Park to seek permission to place a second art installation at Fox Ridge Nature Park, this one dedicated to the eclipse.
Jendrzejewski said he’s been communicating with a Savannah, Georgia-based artist, Henry Dean, who is working to create sculptures in the communities all along the Path of Totality — in which Vincennes will sit for the April 8, 2024 Solar Eclipse — all the way from Maine to Texas.
He’s taken a sabbatical from his position at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) to make these pieces, travel to the communities and build them on site.
He’s prepared to come here, Jendrzejewski told the board, this spring to erect one at Fox Ridge.
“He’s already been here, spent time at the park; he loves it,” Jendrzejewski told the board. “He’s picked out a particular spot, on the north side of the larger lake, a small triangular area there where two pathways meet.”
While the aesthetic details of the installation are somewhat yet to be determined by the artist, it would be a piece in three parts, “tripod” in design, featuring a kind of starburst depiction, Jendrzejewski said.
He was able to provide to the board rough sketches, but the specific details of the sculpture are still subject to change, especially since it will be erected on site.
And in keeping with the spirit of the park, it draw inspiration from the nature around it. It would be made of wood, Jendrzejewski said, and secured by digging post holes for its three legs.
The board has previously indicated its willingness to host the art project inside Fox Ridge Park — hence the other piece installed last fall — but they have also placed certain stipulations, such as prohibiting the use of concrete to install them and only adhering to more natural materials, such as wood, as opposed to metal.
DeLap, who accompanied Jendrzejewski in making the request, said while the dimensions of the project aren’t yet certain, it would be “human scale, not gigantic.”
“And not something people would be tempted to climb on,” she said.
Last October, “Opening Pod,” by Chicago, Illinois, artist Vivian Visser, was installed at Fox Ridge.
The piece, made from willow vines and branches, stands at 8 feet tall and was the 18th sculpture to be installed as part of the overall project. In its inaugural year, 2020, the First City Public Sculpture Exhibition featured seven large sculpted works from artists around the nation, and in 2021 nine additional sculptures were selected for installation.
There are now 22 in total.
The Northwest Territory Art Guild, located at 316 Main St., selected DeLap and Jendrzejewski to lead the project. The couple is currently in the process of handing it off to local artist Sarah Wolfe.
Each installed sculpture is on loan from the artist for a three-year period but with an option for a business or individual to buy the artwork and therefore have it permanently installed in Vincennes.