ATTN: Waukesha

(SRN photo 8-11)

Lawrence press release:

Showing Their Compassionate Side: Lawrence Sculpture Students Turn Manhole Covers into Public Art

Pedestrians in downtown Appleton need look no further than the sidewalk to find examples of compassion these days.

A dozen, newly cast, custom-made manhole covers that feature designs depicting some aspect of compassion are adding a bit of humanity to the otherwise lifeless sidewalks running up and down College Ave.

The project is the latest brainchild of public art specialist Rob Neilson, the Frederick R. Layton Professor of Art at Lawrence University, who challenged students in his sculpture class this spring to come up with their own personal definition of compassion.

"Answered Prayers" by J.R. Vanko '13

The manhole cover assignment was inspired by the community-wide Compassion Project, in which 10,000 Appleton school children used 6-by-6-inch ceramic tiles to create drawings and paintings of what compassion means to them.

Using manhole covers as a medium was a welcomed return to Neilson’s Detroit roots and his foundry background. His father worked for Kasle Steel and he spent a good part of his youth rummaging through scrap yards in search of discarded metals he could repurpose into art.

“This project was great fun and something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” said Neilson, who contributed one of the 12 new manholes. Titled “Mandela Mandala,” Neilson’s creation features eight images of former South Africa President Nelson Mandela arranged into a design bordering on the abstract.

Student covers include a thumbprint, representing an individual responsibility to show compassion; a hand grasping a human liver that honors a friend who underwent an organ transplant and a series of intersecting ripples of water to illustrate the far-reaching effects of each person’s actions.

After creating their designs, Neilson and his students visited the company synonymous with manhole covers — Neenah Foundry — which made molds of each design and created new cast iron covers. The covers will be installed by crews from the city of Appleton.

“This was a great opportunity for my sculpture students and Lawrence to collaborate with the world famous Neenah Foundry and the city of Appleton on a project that benefits the community, the college and the industry,” said Neilson. “It was a chance for my students to stop and think about what manhole covers are, what their purpose is and how to use them to actually create a functional piece of public art.”

The manhole cover designs, which are essentially relief sculptures, were chosen for installation in the sidewalk rather than the street, so that people would be able to stop, view and admire them.

In addition to the set of 12 manhole covers for the sidewalks, two complete extra sets of covers were made for Lawrence and theTrout Museum of Art by Neenah Foundry, which underwrote the cost of the project.

Tags: Appleton, Appleton Compassion Project, Lawrence University, Neenah Foundry, Rob Neilson, Trout Museum of Art,Wisconsin

ATTN: Waukesha

(SRN photo 8-11)

PRESS RELEASE FROM LAWRENCE:

Showing Their Compassionate Side: Lawrence Sculpture Students Turn Manhole Covers into Public Art

Pedestrians in downtown Appleton need look no further than the sidewalk to find examples of compassion these days.

A dozen, newly cast, custom-made manhole covers that feature designs depicting some aspect of compassion are adding a bit of humanity to the otherwise lifeless sidewalks running up and down College Ave.

The project is the latest brainchild of public art specialist Rob Neilson, the Frederick R. Layton Professor of Art at Lawrence University, who challenged students in his sculpture class this spring to come up with their own personal definition of compassion.

"Answered Prayers" by J.R. Vanko '13

The manhole cover assignment was inspired by the community-wide Compassion Project, in which 10,000 Appleton school children used 6-by-6-inch ceramic tiles to create drawings and paintings of what compassion means to them.

Using manhole covers as a medium was a welcomed return to Neilson’s Detroit roots and his foundry background. His father worked for Kasle Steel and he spent a good part of his youth rummaging through scrap yards in search of discarded metals he could repurpose into art.

“This project was great fun and something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” said Neilson, who contributed one of the 12 new manholes. Titled “Mandela Mandala,” Neilson’s creation features eight images of former South Africa President Nelson Mandela arranged into a design bordering on the abstract.

Student covers include a thumbprint, representing an individual responsibility to show compassion; a hand grasping a human liver that honors a friend who underwent an organ transplant and a series of intersecting ripples of water to illustrate the far-reaching effects of each person’s actions.

After creating their designs, Neilson and his students visited the company synonymous with manhole covers — Neenah Foundry — which made molds of each design and created new cast iron covers. The covers will be installed by crews from the city of Appleton.

“This was a great opportunity for my sculpture students and Lawrence to collaborate with the world famous Neenah Foundry and the city of Appleton on a project that benefits the community, the college and the industry,” said Neilson. “It was a chance for my students to stop and think about what manhole covers are, what their purpose is and how to use them to actually create a functional piece of public art.”

The manhole cover designs, which are essentially relief sculptures, were chosen for installation in the sidewalk rather than the street, so that people would be able to stop, view and admire them.

In addition to the set of 12 manhole covers for the sidewalks, two complete extra sets of covers were made for Lawrence and the Trout Museum of Art by Neenah Foundry, which underwrote the cost of the project.

Tags: Appleton, Appleton Compassion Project, Lawrence University, Neenah Foundry, Rob Neilson, Trout Museum of Art, Wisconsin

Attn: Waukesha Business Improvement District (BID); Artist Wis Guthrie; others)

Last week at Lawrence University in Appleton WI we photoed this manhole cover on the campus. See Lawrence press release following:

Showing Their Compassionate Side: Lawrence Sculpture Students Turn Manhole Covers into Public Art

Pedestrians in downtown Appleton need look no further than the sidewalk to find examples of compassion these days.

A dozen, newly cast, custom-made manhole covers that feature designs depicting some aspect of compassion are adding a bit of humanity to the otherwise lifeless sidewalks running up and down College Ave.

The project is the latest brainchild of public art specialist Rob Neilson, the Frederick R. Layton Professor of Art at Lawrence University, who challenged students in his sculpture class this spring to come up with their own personal definition of compassion.

"Answered Prayers" by J.R. Vanko '13

The manhole cover assignment was inspired by the community-wide Compassion Project, in which 10,000 Appleton school children used 6-by-6-inch ceramic tiles to create drawings and paintings of what compassion means to them.

Using manhole covers as a medium was a welcomed return to Neilson’s Detroit roots and his foundry background. His father worked for Kasle Steel and he spent a good part of his youth rummaging through scrap yards in search of discarded metals he could repurpose into art.

“This project was great fun and something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” said Neilson, who contributed one of the 12 new manholes. Titled “Mandela Mandala,” Neilson’s creation features eight images of former South Africa President Nelson Mandela arranged into a design bordering on the abstract.

Student covers include a thumbprint, representing an individual responsibility to show compassion; a hand grasping a human liver that honors a friend who underwent an organ transplant and a series of intersecting ripples of water to illustrate the far-reaching effects of each person’s actions.

After creating their designs, Neilson and his students visited the company synonymous with manhole covers — Neenah Foundry — which made molds of each design and created new cast iron covers. The covers will be installed by crews from the city of Appleton.

“This was a great opportunity for my sculpture students and Lawrence to collaborate with the world famous Neenah Foundry and the city of Appleton on a project that benefits the community, the college and the industry,” said Neilson. “It was a chance for my students to stop and think about what manhole covers are, what their purpose is and how to use them to actually create a functional piece of public art.”

The manhole cover designs, which are essentially relief sculptures, were chosen for installation in the sidewalk rather than the street, so that people would be able to stop, view and admire them.

In addition to the set of 12 manhole covers for the sidewalks, two complete extra sets of covers were made for Lawrence and the Trout Museum of Art by Neenah Foundry, which underwrote the cost of the project.

Tags: Appleton, Appleton Compassion Project, Lawrence University, Neenah Foundry, Rob Neilson, Trout Museum of Art, Wisconsin

................

Pressing the envelope? Bike racks are controversial, knitted trashcan covers are too. Blocking streets for weekly masses-drawing musicales gets some peoples' goats. But ONWARD AS A COMMUNITY WE PRESS!

The COMPASSION theme of Lawrence's art project manhole covers beautifies the streets of Appleton! The one we show here with the folded wings is LOVELY.....

Pearl of great value

Dear Les,

3 AM, Wed. 8-16-11

Cannot sleep.

Just played

The last cut on Side B

Of an old cassette tape

For Dee who was coming to bed

After a late session of cookie baking

For son Lee……

Yesterday

I found a handful of tapes

In a drawer

Fortuitously

Having saved them in the move

Last year

And this one

Pictured here

(both sides B and A)

Contained along with

The Dukes of Dixieland

Two cuts of the Natural Gas

Jazz Band;

One of ‘Forever’

And the other of

‘Lover’

The latter – Lover –

Is a long number by

The trombonist, name unknown to me

Playing the most amazing

Rendition of the song

Most notably performed

By Les Paul and Mary Ford on their guitars.

It is a blessing for me

That I’ve found this old dusty tape.

On the other side, side A,

Are some numbers I multiply

(see Les Paul)

Recorded on what I called

‘two inexpensive

Japanese tape recorders’.

On this half of the cassette

- I modestly titled

THE WORLD’S

GREATEST MUSIC -

I put some versions of

Ja-da, Cecelia, I Love You, etc.

And a reading of

The Owl and the Pussycat…..

The songs are performed

On slide whistle, ukelele, kazoo,

A child’s toy piano, all blended together

And the vocals

Are done by me on top of it all.

This pearl of a tape

Was recorded

In 1983.

I am going to try to get

David Jr. to take that cassette

And make a CD of it

Which I will give you a copy of

as a brotherly gesture.

I remember

I came home late one night in 83

After some libationary action

And was loose enough

To be in what was for me top form.

Those few folks I made cassette copies for

Treasure the tape, they insist.

John Helt, for one.

BUT THE CUT I WANT YOU TO HAVE

ABOVE ALL THE REST

IS THE NATURAL GAS’S

LOVER

With the trombone solo.

All the rest is

Fluff.

Or fluffier.

Pearl of great value

Dear Les,

3 AM, Wed. 8-16-11

Cannot sleep.

Just played

The last cut on Side B

Of an old cassette tape

For Dee who was coming to bed

After a late session of cookie baking

For son Lee……

Yesterday

I found a handful of tapes

In a drawer

Fortuitously

Having saved them in the move

Last year

And this one

Pictured here

(both sides B and A)

Contained along with

The Dukes of Dixieland

Two cuts of the Natural Gas

Jazz Band;

One of ‘Forever’

And the other of

‘Lover’

The latter – Lover –

Is a long number by

The trombonist, name unknown to me

Playing the most amazing

Rendition of the song

Most notably performed

By Les Paul and Mary Ford on their guitars.

It is a blessing for me

That I’ve found this old dusty tape.

On the other side, side A,

Are some numbers I multiply

(see Les Paul)

Recorded on what I called

‘two inexpensive

Japanese tape recorders’.

On this half of the cassette

- I modestly titled

THE WORLD’S

GREATEST MUSIC -

I put some versions of

Ja-da, Cecelia, I Love You, etc.

And a reading of

The Owl and the Pussycat…..

The songs are performed

On slide whistle, ukelele, kazoo,

A child’s toy piano, all blended together

And the vocals

Are done by me on top of it all.

This pearl of a tape

Was recorded

In 1983.

I am going to try to get

David Jr. to take that cassette

And make a CD of it

Which I will give you a copy of

as a brotherly gesture.

I remember

I came home late one night in 83

After some libationary action

And was loose enough

To be in what was for me top form.

Those few folks I made cassette copies for

Treasure the tape, they insist.

John Helt, for one.

BUT THE CUT I WANT YOU TO HAVE

ABOVE ALL THE REST

IS THE NATURAL GAS’S

LOVER

With the trombone solo.

All the rest is

Fluff.

Or fluffier.

Speaking of multiple recording

here's the master originator:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cymdQXNjcHs

It is now 4:15 AM.

Time for bed.