YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A 22-foot-high abstract sculpture by renowned artist Don Gummer was moved to its new location March 19.
It now greets students and others on the plaza between The Butler Institute of American Art and Youngstown State University’s Maag Library.
The sculpture formerly was in the front lawn of the museum’s Trumbull branch in Howland. It was removed four years ago, when the museum branch on East Market Street – now known as the Medici Museum of Art – ended its ties to The Butler.
The stainless steel piece had been disassembled by Brilex Corp. of Youngstown, which stored it at its plant for the past four years. Brilex made the sculpture years ago, working from a model created by Gummer.
Now that the piece is in its new location, it will be polished and then formally dedicated at a June 7 event.
The New York-based Gummer was on the site March 19, watching as a crew from Diamond Steel Construction Co. erected the sculpture, which is titled “Primary Compass.”
He approved of the setting, saying it looks like the sculpture was made for its new home.
“Before, it was in a field [in front of the museum branch], which I liked a lot,” Gummer said. “Bringing it here gives it a different sense of scale, and I like it in a different way. I think it works better here. It has a dialogue with the architecture and space [that surrounds it].”
The abstract piece has metal arms that draw the eye upward and outward – an attribute that fits with its college location.
“I want it to be an inspirational piece,” Gummer said. “It’s all about going up, finding levels, then going up another level. I am hopeful students will see it that way … striving for something.”
Gummer originally designed the piece for a town in Japan that wanted it to be 75 feet high. The town had been bypassed by a new highway and wanted something to draw the attention of motorists, but the project was dropped before it could be built.
“Then somebody in Warren saw it and wanted it for the museum there,” Gummer said.
He first made a model that was a foot and a half high, and then reproduced it at 4 feet high. Brilex worked from the second model in fabricating the piece at a much larger size.
Louis A. Zona, executive director of The Butler, said the sculpture will become a landmark in the community. It sits in a pedestrian plaza that leads to a footbridge that crosses Wick Avenue. “It will now be much more inviting” for students entering the campus, Zona said.
Though the piece is part of The Butler’s collection, its location straddles property owned by both the museum and the university.
The fact that the sculpture is an abstract work of art adds to its appeal, he noted. “Abstract art is a beautiful thing,” Zona said. “It’s a creative process unlike any other in the arts, and Don Gummer is proof positive of that.
Zona described Gummer as a major artist who “has been a wonderful friend to The Butler.”
Gummer grew up in Indiana and studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Yale University School of Art. He lives in New York, where he maintains a studio. The artist married actress Meryl Streep in 1978, but the two have been separated for about six years. They have four children.
Pictured at top: A crane is used to hoist into place pieces of Don Gummer’s abstract sculpture.