March 7, 2014 - If you're downtown Saturday, don't be surprised to see a lot of large public art being installed - most notably an 18-foot-tall painted steel sculpture by Rochester, N.Y.'s Albert Paley.
The intellectually-stimulating and aesthetically-pleasing additions to the downtown vibe arrive thanks to the Art in Public Places Knoxville program, now in its 8th year as a featured presentation of Dogwood Arts in partnership with the City of Knoxville Public Art Committee.
Albert Paley's "Envious Composure" was recently on display in New York City.
(COURTESY: Myers Creative Imaging)
Paley's "Envious Composure" will be erected at about noon Saturday in the Cradle of Country Music Park at Gay Street and Summit Hill Drive. It's one of about 20 pieces being set up in advance of April's Dogwood Arts Festival.
On Saturday, one lane will be closed on westbound Summit Hill Drive for about an hour, starting at noon, to accommodate the installation.
Paley's sculpture was last exhibited on Park Avenue in New York City. It will be on display in Knoxville for a year, and it's for sale. Purchase price: $380,000.
Paley, an active artist for four decades, is the first metal sculptor to receive the coveted Institute Honors awarded by the American Institute of Architects, the AIA's highest award to a non-architect.
Commissioned by both public institutions and private corporations, Paley has completed more than 50 site-specific works. Some notable examples are the Portal Gates for the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; "Synergy," a ceremonial archway in Philadelphia; the Portal Gates for the New York State Senate chamber in Albany; "Sentinel," a monumental plaza sculpture for Rochester Institute of Technology; and a 65-foot sculpture for the entry court of Bausch and Lomb's headquarters in Rochester, N.Y.
Recently completed works include three sculptures for the National Harbor development near Washington, D.C.; a 130-foot-long archway named "Animals Always" for the St. Louis Zoo; a gate for the Cleveland Botanical Gardens in Cleveland, Ohio; a sculptural relief for Wellington Place, Toronto, Canada; "Threshold," a sculpture for the headquarters of Klein Steel in Rochester; and "Transformation," a ceremonial entranceway for Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
Art in Public Places Knoxville is a juried collection of large-scale outdoor sculptures created by exceptional artists from the region and throughout the United States.
The 2013-14 show is being dismantled in the next two weeks while the 2014-15 show is being installed. The official opening of this year's show is in Krutch Park at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, April 4.
City of Knoxville Public Service Department crews have been helping to prepare the sites throughout downtown for the installation of the artwork.
In addition to the hour-long Summit Hill Drive lane closure on Saturday, March 8, anticipate some short-term temporary no-parking zones as these sculptures are being installed. More pieces of art will be installed on Saturday, March 15.