Monday, June 25, 2012

New Poe Boston Monument chosen


June 2012 Volume 23, Issue 1 www.bayvillage.net
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EXCITING SCULPTURE DESIGN CHOSEN FOR NEARBY POE SQUARE
Stefanie Rocknak, a professional sculptor with a tandem career as a professor of philosophy in New York, has been selected to create a statue to commemorate Edgar Allan Poe in Boston, the city of his birth.
“Edgar Allan Poe is one of the most influential writers ever born in the City of Boston. As a city proud of its rich history, I’m so pleased to see this wonderful tribute come to fruition. The statue chosen for Poe Square is full of life and motion, and is sure to inspire residents and future writers alike for generations to come,” said Mayor Thomas Menino.
A five-member artist selection committee, empowered by Boston Art Commission guidelines, chose the design following a lengthy process.
“I propose to cast a life-size figure of Poe in bronze.
Just off the train, the figure would be walking south  
towards his place of birth, where his mother and
father once lived. Poe, with a trunk full of ideas—and worldwide success—is finally coming home,” said Rocknak of the design she calls
Poe Returning to Boston.
The plan calls for the statue of one of America’s most influential writers to be installed in Edgar Allan Poe Square, a tree- lined, city-owned brick plaza at the intersection of Boylston Street and Charles Street South, just two blocks north of where Poe was born in 1809. Mayor Menino dedicated the location to Poe—and to his place in Boston’s literary heritage— during bicentennial celebrations in 2009.
Poe, who at age 18 returned to Boston to publish his first book, later developed a notoriously contentious relationship with the city’s literary elite, including with local editors who seized an opportunity to
criticize him upon another return to his native city for a reading in 1845, the year Poe’s most popular poem, The Raven, appeared. Poe’s final works were also published in Boston prior to his mysterious death in Baltimore in 1849.
An award-winning member of the Sculptors Guild whose artwork has appeared in numerous publications and in more than 40 exhibitions including at the Smithsonian. Rocknak is an associate professor of philosophy and the director of the Cognitive Science Program at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, where she has taught since 2001. A graduate of Colby College in Waterville, Maine, with a B.A. in American Studies and Art History with a concentration in studio art, she holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Boston University. Her interests include the 18th- century Scottish philosopher David Hume (the subject of her forthcoming book), the philosophy of art, and the philosophy of the mind.
The Edgar Allan Poe Foundation of Boston appreciates support for the Poe Square Public Art Project, and the financial contributions of the City of Boston’s Edward Ingersoll Browne Trust Fund that made its planning and artist selection process
possible. Construction of a finalized design of the sculpture—which proponents envision by the end of next year—will depend on success of future fundraising initiatives to offset the anticipated $125,000 total cost of the project.
For more information about the Poe Square Public Art Project—and about how to contribute to the Poe Statue Fund—contact the Edgar Allan Poe Foundation of Boston at 160 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116, via email at info@poeboston.org, or care of http://poeboston.blogspot.com/
Images and text used with permission, Edgar Allan Poe Foundation. 

Saturday, June 9, 2012


 Sunday June 10, 2012 National Firemen's Day is commemerated by Bob Shure's Boston Monument sculpture below.


Massachusetts Fallen Firefighters Memorial 2007
Outside Beacon Hill State/ Bowdoin St. and Ashburton PL. Robert Shure, Sculptor
Bronze

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In this strong bronze pyramid, the artist depicts the constant war between man and fire as three firemen are positioned to fight a fire from every direction.


Efforts to construct a memorial to fallen firefighters began in 2000 with the formation of a non-profit as- sociation. After seven years of fund-raising and planning, this memorial was unveiled. Its design features three elements: the central bronze figures, a Ring of Honor consisting of bricks inscribed with the names of deceased firefighters, and the Firefighters’ Prayer and Bell, placed to the side of the figures and ring. Sculptor Robert Shure also designed the Boston Irish Famine Memorial, located near Downtown Crossing, and a Korean War memorial in Charlestown Navy Yard. (http://www.publicart- boston.com/content/massa- chusetts-fallen-firefighters) Nov. 27, 2010 )