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April 17, 2000).
Roseville's new
bronze reflects its personality State grants used
to fund 'Rosebuds' sculpture
Max Ortiz / The
Detroit News
Artist Janice Trimpe, left, and
longtime student Kitty Podsiadly work on 'Rosebuds,' a new bronze
being made for display at the Sculpture Garden Plaza in front of
Roseville's City Hall, at Trimpe's studio in Grosse Pointe Park.
Grants, corporate donations and commemorative bricks will help pay
for the $89,000 sculpture.
Supporting local
culture Other Macomb
communities and nonprofit groups will receive grants from the
Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.
* Macomb Center for Performing Arts:
$82,000. * Henry Ford II High School:
$23,000. * Village of New Haven: $19,700.
* Macomb Intermediate School District:
$13,200. * Warren Symphony: $9,600.
* All the World's a Stage: $7,500.
By Edward
L. Cardenas / The Detroit News ROSEVILLE -- When the first piece of public art
erected in Roseville goes up next year, Nancy Sunderman-Elert said it
will depict the personality of the city. The
sculpture, titled "Rosebuds," will at least reflect part of the city's
name. "We are a working-class community where
people go to work and take care of their homes and families," said
Sunderman-Elert, a member of Roseville's beautification committee. "Now,
we have something that will add beauty to the city and be a focal point
in the community." The art work by Janice Trimpe
of Grosse Pointe Park features bronze figures of a mother, father and
three children. The piece will be funded by a portion of $326,200 in
grants Macomb County received this year from the Michigan Council for
Arts and Cultural Affairs. The grant money is more
than three times the $82,000 Macomb cultural and arts groups got in
1999. Macomb traditionally has been underserved when it came to getting
state funding for arts projects. The art's council made a commitment
this year to ship funding to areas like Macomb, officials said.
"One of the things the arts council tried to do
was to reach out to previously underserved communities," said Lori
Donlan, communication specialist for the Department of Consumer and
Industry Services, which encompasses the arts council.
"This outreach really boosts programs in Macomb
County. The grants are determined through a peer review process. It is
not based on size or other factors. It is based on quality of work and
the proposal." Trimpe's project was selected by
Roseville's beautification committee and Project Art over 16 other
statewide submissions by artists. Once completed next fall, the
sculpture will be placed on the Sculpture Garden Plaza in front of the
soon-to-be remodeled City Hall on VFW Memorial Drive.
"Local artists have been talking about the
possibility of doing this for some time. Now that it is in the works, we
are really excited about it," said Kathy Karschnia, assistant to the
Roseville city manager. Roseville's portion of the
state grant money is $21,000, and all will be used toward the $89,000
cost of "Rosebuds." Corporate donations and sales of commemorative
bricks are expected to pay the balance. Nine other
nonprofit organizations countywide also will receive state grants. More
than $24 million in grants was distributed in Michigan this year -- an
increase of nearly $4 million from 1999. The state
funding also will help renovate of the historic New Haven railroad depot
and send teachers in the Macomb Intermediate School District to classes
to help students further their art careers. The
strong showing by Macomb County organizations in the grant process this
year has been attributed to efforts by local officials holding workshops
to inform groups about what money is available.
"When only three or four applications are filed,
it is not representative of the county," said Jo-Anne Wilkie, executive
director of The Art Center in Mt. Clemens. The Art
Center, a nonprofit arts educational organization, has taken the lead in
raising money and commissioning four works of art that are placed in
downtown Mt. Clemens as part of the Art in Public Places project.
That project has been successful, and has
attracted interest from art lovers across the state who want to view the
pieces, Wilkie said. "I think any time you have a
work of public art you have a focus for community and a topic of
conversation," Wilkie said. "It really gives identification to the
community." Trimpe also has created the bronze
"Apple of My Eye" sculpture of a grandfather playing checkers with his
granddaughter on Macomb Place in Mt. Clemens. It is one of the Art in
Public Places pieces. Her "Rosebuds" sculpture,
which Trimpe is working on in her Grosse Pointe Park studio, is nearly
one and a quarter life size and depicts a father carrying his young son
on his back, while his wife holds the hand of another son and carries
the couple's baby girl. The girl is handing a rose
to her father. "The children are the rosebuds,
because the children are the most important ingredient in any society,"
Trimpe said. "One of the things that I am excited
about the piece is with so much anger portrayed on television, my art
shows the nicer qualities which makes people feel the love and
goodness."
News Talk
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