Dedication Held to Mark 20th Anniversary of Sculptures on the Avenues

There are many components to this year's Effingham Artisan Fair. One marks the anniversary of the City's Sculptures on the Avenues program.

This is the 20th anniversary of the program, which was an outgrowth of the "Flame of Hope" sculpture by Leonardo Nierman that sits in front of City Hall. Former Mayor Bob Utz was on hand to discuss the desire to have something significant in front of a City facility that is expected to last for decades to come. Someone spotted a Nierman work that was valued at six figures...too much for the budget the committee Utz had appointed could manage.

Utz contacted Nierman and indicated the volunteers could raise $50,000 or $60,000, and Nierman agreed to the figure. The money was raised and the sculpture adorns City Hall.

That led to the Sculptures on the Avenues effort. Utz reminisced about the early sculptures, some of which were vandalized. Eventually, though, the program caught on and is added to about every year. Some works are retired for a few years and then brought out of storage. It's a program that has been an attraction for people from across the nation; not bad, Utz remarked, for a town of 12,000 people.

(AT THE SCULPTURE DEDICATION...EFFINGHAM MAYOR JEFF BLOEMKER, FORMER MAYOR BOB UTZ AND SCULPTOR THOMAS HORN)

Here's Greg Sapp's interview with former Mayor Utz...

The sculptor of the commemorative work is Thomas Horn of Cobden, in southwestern Illinois, who is an artisan frequently at the Artisan Fair. Horn said the work isn't something he fashioned; he said the work tells him what it will become. 

Here's Greg Sapp's interview with sculptor Thomas Horn about the project, and the process of sculpting...

The new work, called "One World", is located on the southeast corner of 3rd and Jefferson on the Courthouse Museum lawn.