Steamboat Today: Little Toots Park piece a 'celebration of the arts'

Archive for Saturday, June 27, 2009

Artist Madeline Wiener measures as and Floyd Gilley, of Mountain States Crane Service, holds a new piece of public art in position. The art, which was commissioned several years ago, was placed in Little Toots Park on Friday. Liam Byerly, of Rangely Crane Service, can be seen seated in the crane placing the pieces in position.

By Margaret Hair Saturday, June 27, 2009

Steamboat Springs — About 12,000 pounds of limestone swung above Little Toots Park on Friday afternoon as a construction crane installed the largest section of a piece of public art called "Let the Music Play."

Commissioned by the Steamboat Springs Public Art Board and approved by Steamboat Springs City Council, the sculpture features three large chunks of dolomitic limestone, carved to resemble a three-man blues band.

Madeline Wiener, the Denver-based sculptor who won the commission, said the piece is supposed to be interactive on many levels. She likes to think of the sculpture group as a blues band, but said it's open to interpretation.

"Music is for everybody. I designed it as part of my 'Bench People' series, meaning that they can be sat on, and if anybody wanted to join the band, they could," she said. Wiener had limestone from the Lake Huron area cut into blocks in October 2008, and started forming figures in December. She completed the sculpture earlier in the week, and drove it up on a trailer from Denver early Friday afternoon.

Much of Wiener's work has a whimsical feel, the artist said. In "Let the Music Play," that comes across in curving lines for the two stone horn players - one holding a trumpet, the other a saxophone - and in the way the drummer is sitting. Park users can follow a line from the drummer's arm to the three circular seats he's playing.

Robert Dieckhoff, who was head of the Public Art Board during the Little Toots commission process, said the group chose "Let the Music Play" for its accessibility and durability.

Describing the installation as "a celebration of the arts," Dieckhoff said Wiener stood out from a crop of applications for her past work, her proposal's compatibility with a public park, and her use of limestone - one of the few materials that can stand up over time in Little Toots, which is near Steamboat's sulfur springs. When it commissioned the piece, the Public Art Board sought to keep tabs on area heritage through art, Dieckhoff said.

A public unveiling and reception for the sculpture is tentatively scheduled for later this summer.