Introducing

Louis!

Thank you to everyone who joined us on Tuesday as we gathered to unveil a major new installation here on the Village Green—Louis by acclaimed sculptor DeWitt Godfrey!

Inspired by natural forms like seashells and honeycombs, Godfrey creates artworks that can be experienced from within as well as from without. Composed of intricately stacked steel ovals, this striking hive-like structure engages viewers from afar, inviting them in to admire an interior dome that opens to the sky.

The hallmark of Godfrey’s sculptures are conical metal sections, which when multiplied and combined create works of placid organic beauty. These ovoid shapes give his work the uncanny ability to appear to change shape as light transforms their convex and concave surfaces. Godfrey often sets his sculptures within exterior settings—wedged between or against buildings, trees or cascading across open green space—though he also creates impressive stand-alone pieces like this one. Through the emphasis of negative space, the artist leaves his work open to the viewer, allowing one to walk through and around his sculpture.

Based in Hamilton, NY, Godfrey is a graduate of Yale and the Edinburgh College of Art and is currently a professor of art and art history at Colgate University. He has received awards and fellowships from the Henry Luce Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Japan Foundation, among others. His works have been exhibited in galleries and public spaces around the world and across the United States and can be found in several private and public collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Brooklyn Museum, the deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, and Art OMI.

Louis was originally commissioned in 2016 for a prize competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where it won the prize for Featured Public Project and was exhibited alongside a sculpture by the legendary artist Alexander Calder. Godfrey named the sculpture Louis after Louis Campau, an early settler known as the "Father of Grand Rapids."

Measuring 22 ft. tall, 31 ft. long, and 22 ft. in diameter, Louis weighs in at around 22,000 pounds, or roughly eleven tons. Though certainly large, this is far from Godfrey’s largest work. You’ll find even larger pieces by him on the West Coast, where he recently installed a towering 40 ft.-tall sculpture called Beken in Alameda, CA, and in New England at the DeCordova Sculpture Park in Massachusetts, which is home to Lincoln, a sprawling mass of undulating cylinders that weighs 38,000 pounds and stretches 150 feet across the lawn of the park.

Thanks to DeWitt Godfrey for sharing Louis with us and to his Big State Art crew—Aiden Gibbons, Lindsay Hodges, Rebecca Johnson, and Thaddeus Rowe—who worked in the August heat for nearly a week to piece together this fabulous work.

Thanks also to Mayor Nora Radest, Common Councilmember Marjorie Fox, Director of Community Services Aaron Schrager, Assistant DCS Director Jin Blades, and Superintendent of Public Works Michael Caputo for their help and cooperation throughout the installation process.

And a very special thanks to our own SPA Art Selection Co-Chairs Cheryl Barr and Vicki Lederman, past board member Estelle Fournier, Co-Chair Ellen de Havilland, and artist liaison/Co-Chair Brian Carpenter for all their efforts to bring Louis to Summit.

Pictured above: Louis on the Summit Village Green; Louis (detail);

artist DeWitt Godfrey with Louis

Click the video above for a behind-the-scenes look

at the Louis installation.

Mayor Nora Radest, SPA Co-Chair Brian Carpenter, artist DeWitt Godfrey, and SPA Co-Chair Ellen de Havilland at the unveiling of Louis on the Summit Village Green.

DeWitt Godfrey joins Mayor Nora Radest and others for the official ribbon cutting at the Village Green. Pictured left to right: Estelle Fournier, Debi Schwarzmann, Marjorie Fox, Greg Vartan, Nora Radest, DeWitt Godfrey, Brian Carpenter, Ellen de Havilland, Thaddeus Rowe, Lauren Holt, Michael Seum, Leslie Herman, Lindsay Hodges, Sarah Walko, Aiden Gibbons, Rebecca Johnson.

Past SPA Board member Debi Schwarzmann, Common Councilmembers Marjorie Fox and Greg Vartan, artist DeWitt Godfrey, SPA Board member Michael Seum, and past SPA Board member Estelle Fournier admire the view inside Louis.

Big State Art crew members Thaddeus Rowe, Aiden Gibbons, Lindsay Hodges, Rebecca Johnson, and an unidentified friend on the Village Green.

Our theme this year is Heavy Metal and features a variety of metal-based works that explore the possibilities of the medium in innovative and often surprising ways. From a pair of steel grizzlies (Dale Rogers' Mama Bear and Cub) to a mind-bending sculpture that seems to defy the laws of physics (Charlie Spademan's Surface Tension) to a semi-abstract exploration of the human form (Carolyn Salas's Tippy Toes) to a towering steel hive that definitely puts the "heavy" in the metal (DeWitt Godfrey's Louis), this season's lineup offers a wide range of works to intrigue and inspire!

So Much to See!

Looking for something to make your summer more interesting? Head downtown to see the wide variety of public artworks now on view here in Summit! From eye-catching murals to innovative sculptures, you’ll find more than a dozen dynamic works of art currently on view downtown and on the Village Green.

To learn more, visit us at www.summitpublicart.com or simply click the link below and start your tour today!

You're Invited!

Join us on Friday, September 22 at Twin Maples (214 Springfield Avenue, Summit) for A Night in the City of Art as we celebrate our 21st year of bringing art to public spaces in Summit!

✭ Meet our 2023 SPA Artists

✭ Fine Wines, Hors D’oeuvres, Small Plates, and Sweet Treats

✭ Live Music, featuring Barry Herman's CASHMERE

✭ Art Site Auction & Art Sale with Christie's Auction House

✭ An evening to delight and surprise

7:00 - 10:00 p.m.

Casual Cocktail Attire.

$150/pp. Space is limited.

To purchase your tickets, please click the button below:

Sponsorships available!

Click here to learn more.

For more information on tickets, sponsorship and advertisements, and accessibility needs, please email us at summitpublicarts@gmail.com.

Summit Public Art Needs You

As a 100% volunteer-run, donor-funded, city-based organization, we rely on the generosity of friends and neighbors just like you to provide the public art and community projects that you, your families, and visitors to our town enjoy each day.

We know that the last few years have been especially challenging for all of us, which is why we greatly appreciate any contribution you might be able to provide. No amount is too small!

If you would like to help us continue to enrich and inspire our community through public art, please click on the button below:

From our followers:

"Particularly at a time like this, we need art

to help us stay in touch with our community."

“I LOVE that Summit is doing so much public art!”

“Truly one of the best perks of living in Summit is

the public art displayed. Thank you and looking

forward to the next installation!”

“I enjoy living in a community that takes its public art seriously. Great work Summit Public Art!!!”

Summit Public Art | summitpublicarts@gmail.com| www.summitpublicart.com