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For more information about the First City Public Sculpture Exhibition call 812-887-6145.
Residents can soon enjoy a variety of daily art walks, thanks to the continuation of a project sponsored by the Northwest Territory Art Guild.
The First City Public Sculpture Exhibition 2020 was completed last winter and presented seven outdoor sculptures by artists from across the nation. Now, say organizers, plans are in place to add nine additional pieces this summer for the 2021 exhibition — three at Gregg Park, three at Vincennes University, one at the Visitors and Tourism Bureau, one at Fireman’s Park and an additional sculpture will be added to the already existing exhibit on the Riverwalk.
“We chose those sites because of their aesthetic surroundings. We want the sculptures to add to the environment and the environment to add to the sculptures as well,” said Andrew Jendrzejewski, one of the exhibit’s organizers.
More than a year ago, the local art guild, a non-profit organization located at 316 Main St., selected Jendrzejewski and Amy DeLap — both retired Vincennes University art professors and the owners of Art Space Vincennes LLC — to lead the First City Public Sculpture Exhibition.
Thanks, in part, to both a grant from the Indiana Arts Commission and a financial gift from the Vincennes City Council, DeLap and Jendrzejewski were able to put out a national call to artists for large sculpted works to be installed at sites around the city for the 2020 exhibit.
Jendrzejewski says, with various funding sources agreeing to support the project once again, the committee has now reviewed dozens more proposals submitted from all over the United States, all of them clamoring to be part of the 2021 show.
Using a high traffic online arts platform to reach artists across the nation, DeLap said they received sculpture proposals from artists living as far away as New Jersey and New Hampshire.
But three of the selected sculptures for this year’s exhibit have been created by Indiana artists, something the pair were particularly excited about, noting that last year they had only one Hoosier artist submit work.
As with the sculptures installed in 2020, each one included this year will be 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 placed in Vincennes.
The group plans to have all of the large sculptures installed by the end of August, with tentative plans for a celebration of the exhibit in September, but they must first wait on the nine concrete bases to be poured to ensure the works are safely anchored.
“The hardest part of the whole program, really, is getting the bases finished,” Jendrzejewski said. “But we started the whole process a couple of months earlier this time around, so we’re hopeful we can have everything finished in time to offer a fall program.”
With the popular return of the First Friday Art Walks and the expansion of the First City Public Sculpture Exhibition, DeLap and Jendrzejewski say they are thrilled with by the growing arts opportunities in the community.
“It’s been quite a summer so far,” Jendrzejewski said happily.
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