Jefferson City to display baseball-themed sculpture

The bronze "School's Out" sculpture — portraying a boy throwing a baseball — will be featured in a Jefferson City park through the Jefferson Cultural Arts Commission's participation in the Creative Cities Alliance's "Sculpture on the Move" program.
The bronze "School's Out" sculpture — portraying a boy throwing a baseball — will be featured in a Jefferson City park through the Jefferson Cultural Arts Commission's participation in the Creative Cities Alliance's "Sculpture on the Move" program.

Another new sculpture is coming to one of Jefferson City's parks.

The Jefferson Cultural Arts Commission selected a bronze "School's Out" sculpture - portraying a boy throwing a baseball - through Manchester-based Creative Cities Alliance's "Sculpture on the Move" program. The program allows cities to rent and purchase sculptures made by local artists.

The commission plans to partner with artists Lee Leuning and Sherri Treeby to install the sculpture around one of the baseball fields in May. While commissioner Leann Porrello said she hopes the sculpture will be in Washington Park or Ellis-Porter Riverside Park, she must speak to Jefferson City Parks, Recreation and Foresty Department officials about park options.

The sculpture and artist may be present May 5 at PorchFest.

Cities can rent sculptures for two years for $500 per year. After two years, cities then can decide whether to rotate the art out or purchase the sculpture as a permanent community feature.

"The program really eases the community into seeing the benefits of art throughout the community," Porrello said. "Sometimes when you go too big, too fast, it kind of strikes people the wrong way. This is a great program to be a part of to kind of test the waters."

The commission partnered with artist Jillian Springer to install the "Grandiloquence" at Ellis-Porter Riverside Park last May. The sculpture has two openings on either side where visitors can speak to each other.

In the future, the commission may contact artists directly about creating sculptures for Jefferson City. This could help eliminate some of the sculpture rotation involved with Creative Cities Alliance's program.

"We get these community sculptures around the community, but they'll disappear if we don't buy them," Porrello said. "People will notice."