An artist commissioned to create a public art installation in Lewes has backed out, just weeks before his piece was scheduled to be placed.
The city’s Public Art Committee had been working with textile artist Wally Dion for more than a year on a public art piece tied into this year’s semiquincentennial celebrations. But, as committee chair Heidi Lowe explained last week, Dion was backing out of the project.
“He is no longer willing to create, finish the sculpture for us,” Lowe explained. “He doesn't feel like he can provide the insurance.”
Dion’s concept for the project changed significantly over the last year, from a fabric installation, to a large quilt, to a set of flags. The changes in scope and choosing a site led to a delay in signing a contract, Lowe said. The piece was originally set to be installed later this month.
However, Lewes will still have a public art piece. Lowe came prepared with renderings of a new project that she conceived with local metalworker and artist Nate Landis. The new project is a set of nine silhouettes of people with connections to Lewes. The silhouettes would be roughly life-sized and made from half-inch-thick aluminum.
“They all have been in Lewes at some pivotal point in their life, most of them all their life, but some only some of their life,” Lowe said. “They are throughout history.”
The historic figures she selected include a shipbuilder who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries, a 19th century woman sculptor, a 20th century philanthropist, an astronaut, and the city’s first Black police chief.
Lowe said that in choosing the figures, she wanted to avoid the most famous names and focus on lesser-known figures from the city’s history.
“They were kind of interesting and they were not as well known, I thought,” she said. “They were normal people, but who did cool things.”
Each figure would have a small plaque identifying them and explaining their legacy in addition to a larger display explaining the installation.
Lowe said that she would work alongside Landis to build out the installation, and assured committee members that the project could be open by June 1, not long after Dion’s aborted project was expected to be ready. It would also cost less than the original installation, with a price tag of around $9,000 to cover materials and some compensation for Landis. Lowe will not be paid for her work on the project.
The committee will, however, need to get approval from the Delaware Division of the Arts, which is providing grant funding, in order to change the project.
Members of the Public Art Committee seemed excited about the project. Trina Brown-Hicks, who serves as the City Council’s representative on the committee, praised the diversity the new project highlights.
“This is just another opportunity of diverse cultural significance of the town and the community, and I just love that,” she said.
In the coming weeks, Lowe or others from the Public Art Committee will meet with Parks and Recreation officials to brief them on the change.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
