Lewes’s Public Art Committee says its Winter Solstice Lantern Festival is shaping up to be a big success in the event’s first year.
Members of the committee discussed and approved the event at a meeting in August. The committee will host four paper lantern-making workshops on December 19 and 20, followed by an evening parade on Monday, December 21. The parade is free and open to the public, while the workshops have a $10 fee.
At the committee’s most recent meeting, Parks and Marina Director Giulia Kirsch said, once registration for the classes, which are limited to around 30 people each, opened up, the response was greater than she expected.
“It was insane,” she told committee members. “My emails were blowing up because I get a notification every time that somebody registers.”
Public Art Committee Chair Heidi Lowe said it was a win for the committee and the event’s first year.
“We did a good job,” she said. “We hit a nerve obviously with the timing, the amount of money, the thing it is.”
Meanwhile, the committee is also gearing up to return to the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission with more details on a public art project planned for next spring, after the proposal hit a roadblock from Parks and Rec members last month.
The proposed sculpture, by environmental artist Posey, will portray two figures, constructed from salvaged fishing and marine gear. The Public Art Committee wants to locate the temporary installation in CanalFront Park, but that requires approval from the Parks and Recreation Commission, which balked on signing off until they could see more details, including a rendering of the proposed installation, which is intended to celebrate the city’s seafaring heritage.
Lowe said that CanalFront Park is the preferred location for the sculpture.
“The main thing is this relates to the working on the water,” Lowe said. “That is the main connector for me, is that it's working on the water so it makes sense that it would go there. And if we're trying to make art make sense where it goes, this is the smartest spot for it.”
Even with Parks and Rec approval pending, the Public Art Committee is moving ahead with plans for the installation. The contract is signed, the first check to the artist, about one-third of her fee, has been issued and the committee has booked Posey to be in Lewes in mid-May to install the sculpture and do a public event.
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.
