WAUPUN — If the new winter event IceFest is successful this year, Waupun may see the first set of rotating sculptures next summer as part of a Sculpture Tour affiliate program.
Jeni Maly, one of the organizers behind IceFest, spoke to the Waupun City Council last Tuesday about the public art program, bringing in Julie Pangallo, who serves as Public Arts and Events Support Manager in Eau Claire.
“We are well underway with at least 30 of our goal of 60 ice sculptures to come to Waupun,” Maly said about IceFest, emphasizing the outpouring of support they received for the winter-themed art celebration.
The proceeds from IceFest will go towards promoting the arts in Waupun, including for the Sculpture Tour affiliate program that Maly and Pangallo presented to the City Council. This program will allow for Waupun to offer rotating outdoor art exhibits for the enjoyment of both residents and art tourists.
According to Pangallo, the City of Eau Claire got involved with the Sculpture Tour affiliate program back in 2014 and has since seen a resurgence of interest in the downtown area, driven largely by tourism viewing the variety of public art throughout the business district and downtown parks.
The affiliate program regularly works with over 700 artists across the country to display their art in public venues, including a growing number of artists from Wisconsin and Minnesota. The rotating public art displays include a variety of abstract sculpture, repurposed scrap, and more traditional works such as bronze statues and murals.
They explained that public art can improve a community in a variety of ways, emphasizing the benefits to tourism, downtown revitalization, and community engagement. And with the rotating displays it remains fresh every year.
“We are definitely taking on something brand new so we will learn through the process this first year,” Maly said. “But it’s good just to know that these are temporary sculpture options. And after a year we will bring in more sculptures, so ultimately it’s a new exhibit every year.”
Maly based the new program on the Eau Claire model, as well as the art program in Hamilton, Ohio—which is Waupun’s competitor for the “City of Sculpture” title. All seven of Waupun’s public statues come from 20th century inventor Clarence Shaler, who had a deep appreciation for the sculpting arts.
“We’re looking at Shaler’s legacy as inspiration to bring more sculptures to Waupun,” Maly said. “While we don’t have a set sculpture in mind, we have some thoughts but initially we are looking at the meaning and the message of Shaler’s already existing sculptures to provide some sort of direction for other sculptures to come to Waupun. Honesty, love and legacy, agriculture, human connections, nature. Those are all the broad themes set by the Shaler sculptures that we will kind of pursue in our direction of what the sculptures might look like.”
Waupun’s participation in the program is still in the works, with many details yet to be ironed out. However they do have some ideas in mind for where the sculptures would best fit in the community, using the current sculptures as guidance, as well as for which sculptures to select.
“We are not just one organization that is going to play a role in selecting these sculptures, we will be working in the city affiliation program,” Maly said.
Waupun IceFest is scheduled for February 17th and 18th with a wide variety of events and art displays.
