Next new sculpture downtown is a gift from union movement
August 28, 2001
BY FRANK PROVENZANO A dramatic 59-foot-tall arching sculpture symbolizing the enduring spirit of organized labor will be erected in Hart Plaza, one of Detroit's most prominent and popular public places. After a six-month selection process that attracted 75 artists from across the country, the winning design from collaborating artists David Barr of Novi and Sergio De Giusti of Redford is to be unveiled today. Groundbreaking for the sculpture -- a gift from metro Detroit's labor movement for the tricentennial -- is tentatively set for Labor Day 2002. The proposal, entitled "Transcending," will blend Barr's abstract symbolism with De Giusti's representational bronze reliefs on boulders of black granite that will partly surround the steel arch. Engraved in the arches will be quotes about solidarity made by famous Americans and labor activists, such as Abraham Lincoln and Walter Reuther. The granite boulders, to be delivered from Vermont, will bear the names of people and events in labor history, according to the artists' proposal. And the arch, which will be broken at its apex but connected by a light beam, is intended to represent the continuing mission of unions to bring fairness and equitable treatment to the workplace, the artists say. "From a distance it seems like a simple arch, but when you come closer there are intimate stories of labor history on the stones," said Barr, whose other public commissions include works at the Detroit Zoo, Fairlane Mall and Bishop Airport in Flint. The artists are unveiling their plans today at an 11:30 a.m. press conference in Hart Plaza between sculptor Robert Graham's monument honoring Joe Louis, commonly referred to as "The Fist," and Cobo Center. "This sculpture adds another major attraction to the downtown Detroit skyline," said David Hecker, chair of the fund-raising committee of the Michigan Labor Legacy Project, which is halfway to its goal of raising $980,000 for the piece. Funds for the project have been raised through metro UAW and other AFL-CIO-affiliated unions. The balance is expected to come from union members, of whom metro Detroit has about 380,000. No corporate or public funds will be used for the project, said Hecker. "What the labor movement is doing is reminding everybody who builds buildings that public art also has a place in the betterment of a city," said Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer. The Labor Legacy Project was established three years ago to determine how organized labor could play a role in Detroit's tricentennial celebration. "There's a great deal of labor history in this city, but until now there wasn't a monument in what is the most popular public gathering place in Detroit," said Hecker, who also leads the Michigan Federation of Teachers. In the mid-1980s, Barr attracted national attention with his "Four Corners Project," for which he carved four chunks of marble into tetrahedrons and placed each in four sites around the world -- as far apart as Greenland and the jungles of New Guinea. He described the project as "the world's largest sculpture." Meanwhile, De Giusti's public sculptures have been installed at Wayne State University and at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan in Detroit. He is known as a passionate art historian and an artist who works almost exclusively in figurative style. At about five stories tall, the monument will be the second-tallest sculpture around Hart Plaza. Isamu Noguchi's "Pylon," near the street entrance to the riverfront plaza, is about 10 feet higher. Other sculptures in Hart Plaza include Noguchi's Dodge Fountain; the recently dedicated statue of Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac by William Kieffer and Ann Feeley; the stone sculpture of Abraham Lincoln by the late Gutzon Borglum, who designed the Mt. Rushmore monument, and Ed Dwight's International Monument to the Underground Railroad, expected to be dedicated Oct. 20 in conjunction with a complementary sculpture across the river in Windsor's Dieppe Park. One of the city's most well-known public sculptures, Marshall Fredericks' "Spirit of Detroit," dedicated in 1958, is situated across from Hart Plaza outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Building. Contact FRANK PROVENZANO at 313-222-6696 or at provenzano@freepress.com.
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