What are you doing Monday, Jan 26, 6 pm?
The public comment meeting taking place at the Maritime Center that night might be your only chance to comment* on this proposal:
for the Solomon Jacobs Park at Harbor Loop :
A $30,000 expenditure related to this proposal will be on the agenda for the City Council meeting the following night.
In early December, then-Mayor Kirk asked the City Council to recommend spending $30,000 in support of a gift of a sculpture…….
(as long as a private fundraising effort provides at least that amount,)
….because the Gloucester Committee for the Arts recommended that the City accept the gift:
“…subject to
1- private fundraising to provide for all projected costs, as outlined above (fabrication, site work, maintenance fund for the future.)
2- the opportunity for public comment * on the proposal ………”
Enduring Gloucester 
I'm curious about the “private funds,” and how that works… is it like Jim Davis donating 500,000.00 to GHS Football Field, only to have it “Renamed.” Or is it that Mr. Black will seek funds from the general public. Guess I'll know the answers if I go to the meeting. Who gets to decide what the Sculpture will be of? I'm still waiting for that “TEMPORARY” Black & White “Harborwalk” sign to be replaced. Thought that was in the works ages ago?
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Sorry if I seem negative, but we saw what happened with some grant money for those sidewalk (paintings?) stick on art?…
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I think they're talking about a public fundraising effort to match the $30K City money (which is of course from taxpayers.) Apparently the sculpture has already been named- High Seas. It has yet to be fabricated. That is one of the expenses associated with the gift.
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Funny how C. Kirk wouldn't except the “Free Gift” of the beautiful Compass Rose that sits in front of the Heritage Center, yet she's okay with allocating tax payers money for this. I'm not saying I'm against it, by any means. Art is huge in my family. I'm just suspect of anything that she has signed on for, I've seen the results.
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Lauren, I lived at 51 Fort Square for about a year and half in the early 1990's. My roommate John Barnes, a local, born and bred, blue collar Patrick Swayze of a Gloucester guy, laughed at me when, just a few weeks before he died of AIDS overlooking 10 Pound Island, I said, “You know, Johnny, someday someone with deep pockets is going to arrive in this town and this neighborhood, with its location and views, will no longer be called “Fort Square”, it is going to become “Louisburg Square by the Sea”. John's response was, in that classic Gloucester way, “No way Mike, This is the “Fottt” it'll never happen”. Well, nearly 23 years later it is, sadly, happening and Gloucester has its very own billionaire feud by the name of Jim Davis, just as Newburyport has its own in the personage of Steve Karp – who also owns most of downtown Nantucket by the way and tried to buy up a good portion of the residential and retail properties in Provincetown's Commercial Street area too.
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I am wondering about the public comment part, has there been the opportunity for that?
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Excellent question, Patti! There has been no formal way for people to comment, unless they happened upon one of the meetings of the Arts Council over the past two years. Because we asked, however, Ward 2 City Councilor Melissa Cox has organized a public meeting on this project. It will be Monday, Jan 26 at 6 pm at Maritime Gloucester. Hats off to Ms Cox for responding to her constituents in this way. All interested Gloucester people are invited. You do not need to be a resident of Ward 2. I hope to see you there.
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Are there other images online somewhere of the sculpture design?
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This image was part of the mayor's packet to city councilors for the Jan 13 City Council meeting. No other images have been made public. The design for Gloucester seems to be changing, though, There were good images of the current design in the slide show presented by Bruce Tobey at the Jan 13 City Council meeting. Perhaps there will be updated images available at the Jan 26 public comment meeting (6 pm, Maritime Center.) Or- go to the artist's website to see his other public sculptures. http://davidblacksculpture.com/PublicSculpture.html
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The Sol Jacob's Park was my dad's idea and creation (Salvatore J. “Sam” Favazza). My mom encouraged him, and Sooky Sawyer recommended that location. I was with him the day he decided on that location, and the day he dedicated it. I've a lot of sentimental attachment to the park….. I hope whatever is being discussed keeps the view open… that was an intention of the layout of the park, to be a nice pathway to the sea.
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Honestly…. just looked at the artist's other work. I can't say that it looks like anything that should be on that site. A sculpture should enhance the spirit and the geography of a space…. these look rather oil-rig like and obtrusive. I'd hate for the park to become a place to showcase a sculpture, rather than the sculpture be something that enhances the space.
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Son of Gloucester (GHS Valedictorian-Class of 1946) and internationally acclaimed sculptor David Evans Black (b. 1928) has made a very generous gesture by offering this work to the city. From what I see in this photo, I think the work will be a terrific addition to the Harbor Loop. The construction cost of $30,000 is really nothing for a public sculpture of this high caliber. And his work is 'public' in the best sense… not to be viewed from a distance but enjoyed from every angle and have a picnic beneath if you choose. It does not seem to obstruct the view of the harbor at all.
I might add that Gloucester, in the past, has been a bit short-sighted when appreciating what quality art it had right under their nose, until it was too late. Hence, there are no Hopper or Homer (not to mention so many others) paintings of Gloucester to be seen locally. IMHO…this is a great opportunity for the community.
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Could we have an update on what transpired at the 1/26 meeting? Was there much input?
Sorry I couldn't attend. Have escaped to a snow free zone!
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That 1/26 meeting was cancelled because of the blizzard. It has not yet been rescheduled.
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