Yo-Yo's Muse by Mike Roig
KINGSPORT, Tenn. -- Eleven sculptures have been placed along Main and Broad streets as part of the Sculpture Walk, a community project of the Kingsport Public Art Committee. The three-dimensional art pieces will be on exhibit through April 2008.
Throughout June, volunteers of the Kingsport Public Art Committee will lead guided tours of the sculpture walk on Thursday evenings at 6 p.m. beginning at the Chamber of Commerce parking lot on Main Street.
Brochures are available for self-guided tours at businesses along Main and Broad Streets, at the Kingsport Convention Visitors Bureau and Kingsport Library.
"The Sculpture Walk is sponsored principally by private donations," said T. Arthur Scott, Jr., chairman of the Kingsport Public Art Committee. "It is a highly visible statement of the commitment of the community to art."
Created by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen in 2006, the committee is charged with encouraging the placement of art in public places in order to contribute to the awareness and appreciation of the arts and to enhance the quality of life in Kingsport.
The Sculpture Walk will be a recurring event, leading not only to permanent city acquisitions, but also to the promotion of local, regional and national artists through the encouragement of private and public exhibitions of their works.
Hank Foreman was selected in November 2006 as the curator of the Sculpture Walk. Foreman is the director and chief curator of the Turchin Center for Visual Arts at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. As curator, Foreman selected artists to represent diverse materials and geographies in order to give the community a broad introduction to contemporary sculpture.
"The works included in this inaugural exhibition provide a window onto the world of contemporary outdoor sculpture. There is a wide diversity of scale, materials, techniques and ideas employed in this body of work," said Foreman.
A virtual tour of the cculpture walk can be found a www.KingsportARTS.org/sculptures The Kingsport Public Art Committee encourages citizen input and comments at Kingsport.PublicArt@gmail.com
For more information about the exhibition, call Bonnie Macdonald, City of Kingsport's Cultural Arts Division at 423-392-8416.
