Joliet city square sculpture draws international attention

The sculpture for the future city square in downtown Joliet has drawn international attention.

The Joliet Arts Commission this week heard from six finalists in the sculpture search, one from as far away as Spain and another as close as Joliet.

Others were from St. Louis, Iowa and California, a reflection of the widespread attention given to the city search for a sculpture that will serve as a centerpiece for the city square.

The city is paying $200,000 for the sculpture, a price tag that was set to attract notice, said Ray Heitner, a city planner who serves as staff liaison to the Arts Commission.

“The idea was to set a motivating price that would cast a pretty wide net,” Heitner said.

The city received 50 proposals for the downtown sculpture. Sculptors who did not make the final cut included those from Canada, Italy and China, as well as other locales across the U.S., Heitner said.

The commission heard presentations and asked questions of the finalists Wednesday. It is scheduled to select the winning sculpture design Oct. 2.

The sculpture will be a centerpiece in the $9 million city square now under construction. The square is being built on two former parking lots across from the Rialto Square Theatre.

One sculpture proposal would contain photographic images of the Rialto and other downtown buildings that visitors would view from a vantage point where they could see the images as well as the buildings.

The sculpture would create “a dialog between the structure and its reflected image,” said Chandler Ahrens with the St. Louis group that presented the proposal.

Ahrens’ presentation like others was made virtually to the Arts Commission at its meeting Thursday since only one of the finalists was in the immediate Joliet area and one was in Spain.

Juanjo Novella from Spain described his proposal for a sculpture, which was basically a large, transparent door.

“A door is a very powerful symbol,” Novella told the commission.

It was not clear whether visitors to the square would be able to walk through the door as well as see through it. But another proposed sculpture called “The Dome of Unity” offered a venue that people could walk through during visits to the square.

Sijia Chen from Los Angeles said the dome would provide “a great retreat” within the square.

The white dome would be designed with paper cut art that Chen said would provide changing sunlight throughout the day. The dome would be lit with electric ground lights at night.

“I will be working with the Joliet community to create the paper cut designs,” Chen said, adding that she has used such community involvement to finalize the design of other public sculptures.

James Peterson, also from the Los Angeles area, proposed a series of multi-colored arches for a sculpture that he titled “Joy” and through which people also could walk.

“The sculpture is made of a series of modules,” Peterson said, and “was inspired by the rebirth of the area.”

In addition to creating the city square, Joliet is rebuilding Chicago Street, the main street downtown that runs alongside the future square, in a way intended to make it more accessible for motorists and improve the downtown business climate.

Closer to home, Joliet-area artist Dante DiBartolo proposed a sculpture titled “Woman of Steel and Stone.”

The sculpture would create a bronze figure of a woman’s face that would also reflect iconic Joliet images, such as the old Joliet Correctional Center and the Jefferson Street bridge.

The Joliet moniker as “City of Steel and Stone” would be incorporated into the artwork of the sculpture, DiBartolo said. The back of the woman’s head would be a cavity wherein would be a sculpted tree to depict the growth of Joliet, he said.

Timothy Jorgensen, an instructor at the University of Northern Iowa, presented “Vessels” a sculpture of three structures resembling the familiar “helicopter” pods that spin off maple trees in the spring.

“These seeds represent the people who stayed in the area,” Jorgensen said.

The commission ended its meeting without evaluating the proposals or indicating which sculpture it may select.