Duluth Chooses Atlanta Sculptor for Living Honorarium

DULUTH, GA – Duluth selected well-known Atlanta sculptor Martin Dawe of CherryLion Studios to create a Living Honorarium to honor veterans, police officers, firefighters and emergency services workers. Dawe has done 30 large-scale public art projects over the past 25 years. The design will be kept under wraps until the sculpture’s unveiling on Sept. 11, 2011, the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center bombing in New York City. The unveiling had originally been scheduled for Memorial Day.

“We would really like to make a big splash with this – there’s a lot going on in the city right now,” said Jennifer Freeman, who spearheaded resurrection of the project for the city under the auspices of the Duluth Fine Arts League. “We want to really create a buzz.” A Living Honorarium Selection Committee that included representatives from DFAL, the Duluth City Council, the local art community, and donors, reviewed proposals from seven semi-finalists before recommending Dawe to sculpt the city’s project and earn the $50,000 commission.

Dawe’s projects include the World Athletes Monument featuring a circle of bronze Atlas figures in Atlanta commissioned by Britain’s Charles, Prince of Wales and a life-size sculpture of former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Pine Mountain, GA. For a look at Dawe’s portfolio visit the CherryLion Studios Web site. 

The committee issued a public call for art last July to invite artists to compete for the prize. Artists made presentations to the committee and submitted mockettes of their designs in January. Duluth City Council members had the opportunity to review proposals by the semi-finalists before agreeing with the committee’s selection.

The council authorized the city attorney to draw up a contract with Dawe to design, sculpt and install the Living Honorarium at its Feb. 14 meeting. Freeman brought a miniature bronze full-figure sculpture of Abraham Lincoln by Dawe to the council meeting to show as an example of his work. The Living Honorarium will include bronze figures, she said.

The Living Honorarium will be installed on the edge of the Town Green at the half-moon drive-by on Main Street in front of the flagpole. Private donations collected since former mayor Shirley Lasseter envisioned a Living Memorial several years ago will be used to pay for the project. The name was later changed to the Living Honorarium.

Mayor Nancy Harris extolled the value of public art in attracting new residents, businesses and tourists in a statement following the council’s action. “Some of the other pieces (not selected) were wonderful,” commented Councilwoman Marsha Bomar, who suggested the community consider raising additional private funds for more public art.

In other business, the council:

• Awarded a bid in the amount of $464,030 to Georgia Development Partners to install sidewalks on the north and south sides of West Lawrenceville Street and lighting on the north side. The decorative lights will be placed on existing wooden poles. The project also includes resurfacing the street, but not curb and gutter.
• Approved a change order to an existing contract with Georgia Development Partners for $39,168 to construct the Rogers Bridge Park sidewalk extension from the Old Town Subdivision to Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. The extension will make the park more accessible to pedestrians. Gwinnett County has agreed to provide an additional $23,000 for the sidewalk project. Total cost will be $62,168 with the city’s portion coming from SPLOST funds.
• Granted a contract to SD&C Inc. to install sidewalks to improve safety on Davenport Road in the amount of $541,082. The total $784,000 project is being funded with SPLOST and grant funds. The city has already spent money for engineering and right-of-way acquisition.
• Re-awarded a bid for emergency stream restoration at the Charleston Bay Townhomes off Pleasant Hill Road to Georgia Development Partners for $96,000. The company that previously was awarded the contract declined after the city reduced the project to the amount of work that $96,000 would cover.
• Adopted a recommendation from the Duluth Planning Commission to allow legal non-conforming commercial uses to be re-established after six months instead of three months after closing. The limit for non-conforming residential was increased from zero to six months. The council also approved a text amendment to the city’s zoning ordinance that prevents the city from banning older mobile homes from locating in the city but allows the city to require the mobile homes meet construction, health and safety standards. This brings the city into compliance with a new state law.