Not a Fan of the Gordon Park Sculpture

I lived in the Riverwest area for 30 years before I moved, but I still am a member of Our Lady of Divine Providence parish and many friends and relatives live in Riverwest, so I am in the area often.

On July 5, I was anxious to join the parade to Gordon Park...and one reason was to get a close look at the new sculpture I read about in the Riverwest Currents.
I have read the article, reread the article, and thought about this sculpture at great length. My reaction? Can we give it back and say “no thanks?”

The architect says “I think public art should be created with only one place it can go.” So, perhaps we are stuck with it. I think we were bamboozled. He went to Alaska to study glaciers (couldn’t he have done that in Wisconsin...or via the Internet?) He went to Italy for the material for the base.

Did he visit the Riverwest neighborhood? Did he notice the Polish people’s influence? Did he notice the Puerto Rican people’s influence? He seems to have omitted them in this “tribute” to our community. He also insults German people saying they are “stuck” and “reinventing” things.

Looking closely at his work, it looks more like he completed the piece and then tried to justify it and connect the objects to our community. Riverwest has always been a diverse area, but do we have a significant number of South Americans,
Jewish, French, Mexicans, or Vikings here?

My concern is that I’m sure we could have found a local artist to do a more appropriate sculpture....someone perhaps with a true connection to Riverwest. I would hope that the selection committee would have done that.

It was such a night and day contrast to see the article about the sculpture and the “Snail’s Crossing” article run side by side on the front page. Marina Lee, a local artisan, planned and included the community in her work. She, in fact, uses the Polish and Spanish languages in her work. Hers indeed is a fitting tribute to and addition to this community. She is to be commended.

“Art” in the community is an admirable thing. I wish we could have gotten a piece I could admire.

Sincerely,

Mary Anne Borowski