By Katy Savage, Standard Staff
Herb Ferris is showing his artwork to the world, placing large sculptures in public places for free. Sometimes his art gets praise, sometimes well, it doesn’t.
“I’m sure that some people like them and some people don’t like them,” said Ferris of Windsor. “That’s sort of normal.”
Yet, Ferris, 71, recently withdrew a proposal to build a sculpture and place it on a 23-acre strip of public land along Interstate-91 — saying the sculpture was too small and the support for the project in Hartland was minuscule.
“If the town was enthusiastic about having something that would mark the location of Hartland, that’s great, but if it doesn’t have quite enough oomph, it just doesn’t work,” Ferris said.
Just the thought of seeing a sculpture in such a viewable location drew a variety of opinions. One resident on Hartland’s email list wanted the land left undisturbed, another wanted to see a sketch of Ferris’ plans. They wanted to have a conversation about public art.
Ferris isn’t on the email list but he heard some questioned if public art should exist at all.
“I think it’s a valid discussion,” said Ferris.
Ferris realized his sculpture, a U-shaped log, 19 feet long, flanked by posts 8-9 feet off the ground, “wasn’t quite big enough,” he said. Ferris measured the sculpture in Hartland last weekend and took photographs with his son.
“You could see it, but instead of being, ‘Wow, look at that,’ it was like, ‘There’s something over there,’” Ferris said.
Ferris could make the sculpture taller with stone, but more stone is expensive to move.
The sculpture he was making is worth $20,000. Ferris doesn’t know if he’ll finish it.
Town Manager Bob Stacey was “surprised and disappointed,” by Ferris’ withdrawal.
Others were too.
“I think a lot of people would love to see it over there,” said John Capurso, the owner of the Windsor Station restaurant, which has three of Ferris’ sculptures behind the property.
Public art can be rooted in the values of a community. It can comfort the ill at hospitals and commemorate events. Public art can also be a landmark like the Statue of Liberty — a gift from France on Oct. 28,1886.
“In a diverse society, all art cannot appeal to all people, nor should it be expected to do so,” the Association for Public Art, located in Pennsylvania, writes on its website.
Public art comes with controversy.
The governor’s wife Katie Hunt recently made satirical papier-mâché artwork for her husband’s office at the Statehouse. There’s a peacock clinging to a shotgun representing the governor, three cows representing the media and a deer carcass with its guts pouring out.
The artwork, which will be on display for two weeks, has received mixed reviews.
“I think in general that’s what makes public art so interesting,” Association for Public Art Assistant Director Laura Griffith said. “If it’s a good piece, you have some people who really like it and some who don’t like it so much.”
Griffith guessed thousands of public art proposals are turned down every year. Sometimes public art is removed after it’s installed, like artist Richard Serra’s $175,000 sculpture, “Tilted Arc.” The sculpture was taken out of the Federal Plaza in New York City following public outcry in 1981.
Still Griffith made the argument for having public art.
“I think art is so important to a society, reflecting who we are, our cultural heritage. We need art. It helps tell us who we are,” she said.
Ferris’ sculptures appear at Mount Ascutney Hospital and Health Center, at the Blue Horse Inn and the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, among other places.
His sculpture at the entrance of Mount Ascutney Hospital gets questions from patients, said Director of Development Tony Tremblay.
“It’s so noticeable when you come up the driveway to the hospital,” Tremblay said. “It wouldn’t surprise me,” if there were negative comments, he said. Hartland resident Michael Weinberger supports public art because he said it adds joy to surroundings. He said Ferris’ withdrawal was “ understandable.”
Ferris has sold sculptures all around the country. Despite the withdrawal, he still wants his neighbors to enjoy his art.
“I wouldn’t make something that I wouldn’t like, that’s a given,” he said. “I’m always sort of surprised when people don’t like (the sculptures) and delighted when they do.” Association for Public Art Assistant Director Laura Griffith
This article first appeared in the June 9, 2016 edition of the Vermont Standard.