Overwhelmed!

So I am overwhelmed with the number of sculpture stories that are crowding the news these days. Today alone yielded two blockbusters for me...
The new Edgar Allen Poet statue is going up in Boston in a month!
http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2014/09/05/edgar-allan-poe-statue-date-october-5-boylston-charles-street-south/
This is the first full statue to go up in the Garden since Nancy Shoen's Make Way for Ducklings went in in 1987. True, there is the 9/11 memorial on the Arlington Street side, but lovely as it is, it's  not an actual statue.
One of the things that fascinates me about the Poe-to-be is its location. It's slated to sit on the corner of the Boyston/Charles Street entrance where, they say, the writer was born. But that's not the first time a writer was slated to sit there.
In the early days of the 20th century, the Burns Society of Boston hired Henry Hudson Kitson, a well-known Boston sculptor, to create a statue of Robert Burns.  They had the blessings of the Arts Commssion initially.
So Kitson made a lovely piece of the poet and his dog for them. But after months of problems with the artist and political maneuvering (Kitson was out of favor with the guys in the commission) the piece ended up in the Fenway in 1920. (It's now in Winthrop Square).
And that, children, is why there was an empty spot to fill in gallery row of the Boston Public Garden.
Here's what the new piece, called Poe Returning to Boston will look like.
 picture from http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2014/01/24/edgar-allan-poe-statue-developments-in-boston/

And  if that weren't enough- watch soon for sensational info on a newly discovered  treasure trove of ancient statues in Greece...

Robin Williams

As you can see, I've been really negligent about keeping this blog up to date, but some stories are so compelling that I have to share them.
Most people I know are devastated by the loss of Robin Williams.
Bostonians began dealing with their grief almost immediately by going to the bench in the Boston Public Garden where the famous "Goodwill Hunting" scene with him and Matt Damon was filmed. Flowers, graffiti (of the good kind), and tokens made it an impromptu shrine within hours, and the process continues.
Now there's a petition to install a statue of the actor on that very bench. It's collected over 15,000 signatures so far (http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/robin-williams-statue-on-the-good-will-hunting).
Putting sculpture up in a public place in Boston is under the purview of the Arts Commission, and I'd love to see them consider this one. To date, none of the pieces in the garden have been the result of a public request. The closest I know of is the Duckling piece, but that was the result of a small group of influential citizens who came up with the idea at a party one night, according to sources.
I'd love to see a new piece go in to the Garden, but with very careful thought and criteria. I think it will touch citizens for decades (unlike some of the figures on sculpture row on the Boylston Street side of the Garden). This bears watching...

Photo From Carl Stevens @ http://elitedaily.com/entertainment/celebrity/robin-williams-bench-statue/711276/

Stripped Down in the Snow

So you take a life-sized statue of a nearly nude man and stand it upright in the snow next to a main road.
He's a fairly pudgy guy wearing only briefs, and his arms are stretched out before him. He definitely resembles a cross between a Hanes ad and a frat prank.
And he's standing in the snow on the Wellesley College Campus near Boston.

(Photo from gannett.cdn.com)

A prank? Non-news???
Apparently not. According to the local press, the students and some of the public are hashing out his meaning and appropriateness.
500 people signed a petition to have him removed. According to the petition initiators, the statue is “a source of apprehension, fear, and triggering thoughts regarding sexual assault for some members of our campus community.”
At least one student felt that it would be more appropriate to erect a statue of a former president or cultural icon instead.
None of the critiques seem to focus on the skill of the artist, nor the quality of the piece.
According to the NY Times, the President of the college said that  “The community is debating everything from compassion to censorship, to freedom of expression and the significance of safe spaces,”.
The sculptor himself said that the piece, called "The Sleepwalker", is meant to arouse compassion for the outcast figure who is, apparently in some distress. It is also meant to draw attention to his show at the Davis Art Gallery on campus.
The piece is slated to stay in place until July, when, presumably, he will fit in with the community.
It is, once again, a case of concept v literalness.