LEWISTON
Edges ’08 shows off Artpark’s roots
By Nancy A. Fischer
- NEWS NIAGARA BUREAU
Updated: 06/17/08 6:40 AM
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- Lawrence Kinney, winner of Edges ’08.
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LEWISTON — With the success of Artpark’s Tuesdays in the Park, this year Artpark was able to go back to its roots in the art world with its first outdoor sculpture competition, Edges ’08.
Eight works, some up to 25 feet tall, were selected as finalists out of 33 works submitted. They will be on display throughout the summer.
The grand prize of $2,500 was awarded recently to Lawrence Kinney, of Buffalo, for his work, “Spalted Device.”
“The work is a combination of hardwoods and 150-year-old timbers, and part of my idea is to make it look like it has some kind of functionality, but it’s pseudo-function,” Kinney said. “It’s not functional, but it looks like a tool. There’s a great deal of movement in it and it can be taken apart and put together another way.”
Artpark President George Osborne called the sculpture contest “another exciting example of Artpark’s continued emphasis on blending all forms of the arts with nature.”
Kinney called Artpark a wonderful venue to display the art.
“Sculptors have different needs than the average artist. You need space, and Artpark is suitable for that. Quite a number of artists have gone through here in the past. It’s very exciting for this to be happening,” Kinney said. Robert L.
Wood, professor of design and head of the ceramics program at Buffalo State College, reviewed and judged the works. According to Wood, the concerts help support programs like the sculpture contest.
Osborne said the contest was fully funded by Artpark. He said at one time, when visiting artists were sponsored by Artpark, they had about $3 million in funding from the state.
Now, state funding is $450,000, so the nonprofit group that runs the state park must rely on successful events like Tuesdays in the Park to bring back programming.
Three Dog Night will perform Tuesday after opening act Tom Stahl and the Dangerfields. The free concert starts at 6:30 p. m.; parking at Artpark costs $6, and is located off Center Street in the village.
Osborne said big-name acts that come to Artpark can cost $17,000 to $50,000, plus fees and riders that can add another $5,000 to $6,000 to the bill.
Concessions and parking fees, as well as sponsors, who pay $12,000 for special “sky box” seats for a season, provide funding used to support the concerts as well as other programs, including Edges ’08, Osborne said.
Other finalists on display are: “Sanctuary,” by Jesse Walp; “Days of Venus,” by William Cavanaugh; “All in One,” by Brett Coppins; “Shelter From Outside Influences,” by Amos Scully and Stephanie Ashenfelder; “In the Realm of the Spirit,” by Kenneth Payne; “Splitting Hair,” by Rolf Hoeg; and “Submission,” by Adam Nowicki.
The artists, who are all from Western New York, will be permitted to sell their works after the exhibit ends Sept. 15. Free admission is available throughout the summer to view these works and, in some cases, meet the artists.
