One Up, Three to Go

May 26, 2011 0 Comments

by Matthew Williams

Steve Bush (white shirt) and his crew prepares to move Sycamore into place.

Mallory McClellan’s Sycamore, the first of four sculptures that will grace Harrison Park has finally been installed.

This past Monday promised to be just another rainy day in this unusually wet spring; at 8:00 a.m., I nearly called off the sculpture’s installation. A check of the forecast, though, suggested that a window in the day’s near-constant threat of rain might open up around noon. After a few phone calls and bitten nails, the installation was pushed back from 10:30 until 12:30. The morning passed tensely. Then, at 11:30, the clouds dissipated to reward our patience with a glorious, sun-filled sky that lasted all day.

At 12:15, the installation crew and the artists descended on the park, Sycamore in tow. By 1:00, a skid steer had perched the sculpture on its concrete base, and workers were busily anchoring it down. Merely an hour later, the crew, the artists, and I were leaving Sycamore in its new home to be discovered by park-goers and passers-by.

Artist Mallory McClellan with her newly-installed sculpture, Sycamore.

If you haven’t seen Sycamore yet, take a walk along the Olentangy Recreation Trail. Just south of West Second Avenue, you’ll see it sitting serenely at the top of a knoll. Over the next few weeks, the artists will be out to make final touch-ups to the paint, and the base will be covered over with mulch.

Congratulations, Short North! Your support of the Harrison Park Art Project is beginning to bear fruit. The second sculpture, Amanda C. Vandenberg’s Riparian, is tentatively scheduled for installation before the end of June. The Harrison West Society expects the remaining two sculptures to be installed in the fall.

If you would like to contribute to the Harrison Park Art Fund, which finances $3,000 awards to each of the CCAD students with winning designs, please send a check, made payable to “Short North Foundation” to:

Short North Foundation
120 W. Goodale
Columbus, OH 43215

Please also note on your check that your contribution is for the “Harrison Park Art Fund.”