JEFFERSONVILLE — Seven years ago, the space at 10th and Mechanic streets in Jeffersonville was nothing more than a flat piece of land between the road and a city-owned maintenance lot. A mound of grass-covered earth was built as a visual buffer a few years after that.
“But now, today I’m excited to say we’re taking that a step further,” City Councilman Nathan Samuel said.
City Canvas announced at a news conference Tuesday that a seven-piece sculpture by New Albany artist R. Michael Wimmer will be displayed on the empty plot by the end of the year.
A plywood prototype of the sculpture was displayed on the berm Tuesday that will soon be replaced by the permanent steel version.
Planning and Zoning Director Shane Corbin said Wimmer’s design “completes the buffer.”
“I think it was the best fit because it uses the entire length of the berm,” Corbin said.
The sculptural design was the winner for “On the Berm: It All Started with an Idea!”, a public arts contest that City Canvas organized to make the mound more attractive.
The city’s arts organization invited members of the public to submit their designs, narrowed submissions down to three and asked the community to vote on their favorites.
“Art gets people talking, art gets people thinking, art helps community pride and self esteem of the city,” said Samuel, the council representative on the Jeffersonville Public Arts Commission.
Wimmer’s sculpture called “Jeff” has seven red figures as tall as 10 feet, each one gradually rising from the berm, running and “jumping into the future.”
“He’s coming out of the berm,” Wimmer said. “He’s coming out of the history of Jeffersonville, Indiana.”
Wimmer said he knew he wanted something simple that could be easily identifiable from the road.
“I came out, sat across the street and realized there’s’ nobody walking on the sidewalk,” he said of his planning process. “ ... They might not understand it at first, but it’s whimsical.”
City Canvas is the umbrella organization for all public arts groups in the area, including Jeffersonville Public Arts Commission and the Jeffersonville Arts Alliance, that is pushing for a more art-friendly community.
Mayor Mike Moore said at the event Tuesday that touches of art in public spaces will prove Jeffersonville is an “up and coming city.”
“Now we have something we’re proud to show off,” Moore said. “We want to do more and more of this.”
City Council President Dennis Julius said the formation of City Canvas has brought together the right players.
“When you get a group like this and ask what the community wants, and they listen — that’s huge,” Julius said.
The next steps for City Canvas include contracting and paying Wimmer for his work — $32,000 from the city’s beautification fund — but also starting on their next project.
“We are in the process of talking about the details of doing a second round of utility boxes,” said Hallie Jones, owner of partnering company The MAMMOTH. Several painted utility boxes dot the city from a prior project.
More projects are ongoing, too — sculptural benches and bike racks and artistic crosswalks will pop up around town soon.
“If everything stays on track, we will have added close to 40 pieces of public art in this city [by the end of the year],” Corbin said.