Sidewalk sculptures are beginning to appear on Ferndale thoroughfares. Itís about time for the trendy city.
A bright red ram is perhaps the most visible, which is located at Livernois and Nine Mile Road.
Others include metal arcs at Woodward and Marshall and a human figure wearing a hat at Woodward and Maplehurst.
A total of 11 abstract sculptures will be placed at various locations by the Downtown Development Authorityís Art Town (ARTWN) project.
The authorityís director, Cristina Sheppard-Decius, said the sculptures follow the wishes of residents and business people as expressed in surveys.
And so far, costs have been met by private donors and Detroitís Motor City Casino Hotel. The sculptures will stay in the city for two years. while the authority holds fund-raisers and seeks donors. Residents eventually will be asked which pieces they wish to purchase for a permanent place in the city.
Sheppard-Decius said many people have telephoned the authority to comment on the works. Many have been complimentary. Some, we gather, havenít been.
ďNot everyone likes the same things. The sculptures are supposed to strike up conversations and allow people to make their own judgments,Ē Sheppard-Decius said.
The first fund-raiser ó unveiling of the final sculpture with food, drinks, music and a meet-and-greet with the artists ó was held a few days ago.
Ferndale officials, starting in 2006, began to discuss looking for public art, funding and locations in the city. In that year, they worked with a nonprofit, Design Michigan at Cranbrookís Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills. In the meantime, the first of a number of planned Woodward ďtributesĒ was placed in the Woodward median a couple of blocks north of Nine Mile Road.
Public art, whether sculpture, mural or as monumental as a Star Dream in Royal Oak or the Woodward tributes, add personality to a community, often an attractive, quirky one. Sometimes itís controversial. Not everyone likes the stylized nudity of the male and female figures in Star Dream, created by the famed Marshall Fredericks, or the more detailed nudity of the 7-foot-high Walking Man statue in downtown Mount Clemens when it appeared on a sidewalk.
But in this area at least, it seems that public art isnít used to establish a personality that wasnít there before.
It happens in a place thatís already attracting people to shops, bars and restaurants. It happens where leaders have the imagination to understand its impact and the ability to find funds to make it happen.