EASTHAMPTON — A new sculpture to be installed next spring along the Nashawannuck Pond boardwalk will give residents and visitors the opportunity to reflect on volunteerism in the arts and cultural sectors of the city.

The sculpture, called “Easthampton Storyscape: A Salute to Volunteers for the Arts,” will be installed as an initiative of the Easthampton City Arts’ (ECA) Public Art Committee.

“The piece itself inspires curiosity,” said Pasqualina Azzarello, coordinator of ECA. “It invites people to come close, to peer inside, to wonder… It really highlights and emphasizes the history, the past, present and future of volunteerism in the arts community.”

A yearslong coordinated volunteer effort is what brought the ECA itself into existence, and volunteers continue to help facilitate the organization’s programs, festivals and community events including Art Walk, Poetry Day and Cultural Chaos.

In recognition of those efforts, ECA chair Denise Riggs and member Marcia Morrison first brought forward the idea of a public sculpture honoring volunteers a few years ago, an idea the committee was immediately receptive to, according to Azzarello.

A public call for applications opened in 2022, and ECA announced this week that Janna Ugone and Piper Foreso — two local artists with a long history of community involvement in Easthampton — were selected to make the vision a reality.

“We’re deeply entrenched in Easthampton, and we’ve been here both for a long time and we’ve seen it grow and change,” Foreso said.

Ugone added, “We have always been interested in the artistic growth of Easthampton, so to have a nod to the volunteers who have helped continually shape Easthampton, this creative community… it just seemed like a natural fit.”

Both artists have had studios based at Cottage Street Studios, adding up to a combined tenure of 62 years and counting.

“They’ve experienced firsthand what this sculpture is looking to illustrate and honor,” Azzarello said. “We all felt that personal spirit very much infused in the piece that they’ve designed, and we are really thrilled to be able to share it with the community.”

This will be the artists’ first project together, though they both have extensive backgrounds in different types of sculptures.

Ugone works in fine lighting and home accessories, whereas Foreso works with steel to make garden art such as gates, trellises and fountains.

The sculpture, which will stand about 7½-feet tall, will take the form of a building with small window openings along all four sides. When viewers peer inside the windows, they will observe various symbols of Easthampton and the arts.

“It draws you in for a moment to appreciate this lovely opportunity that the city has made for all of us to take a moment, pause and appreciate these people who have done so much to create what we love so much,” Ugone said.

In addition to celebrating the city’s volunteers, the idea is also to create a tribute to Debra Tautznik and Denise Herzog, two community members central to the arts and cultural scene who died unexpectedly in 2015 and 2018 respectively.

Tautznik, the late wife of former mayor Michael Tautznik, was an ardent supporter of the arts and an active volunteer at events like Cultural Chaos, according to a Gazette article from 2015 remembering her life.

Herzog was a potter and ceramist who helped found Cottage Street Studios, in the 1980s.

Both Foreso and Ugone were close with Herzog and felt the impact of her loss, part of their inspiration for joining the project.

“We’ve known Denise for decades and love her. She’s a wonderful, wonderful person, an integral part of the community. She just gave so much to this community,” said Foreso.

The sculpture

The sculpture, which is funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the American Rescue Plan Act, will be constructed of steel and stainless steel. The outer structure will be sealed with a rust finish and will reflect the brick detailing of nearby buildings.

Openings at different heights on all four sides of the structure will allow visitors to look inside and see symbols of Easthampton, all laser-cut from stainless steel.

One such symbol is a silhouette of the exact profile of the mill buildings people can see standing at the sculpture’s location.

Another silhouette depicts people from different backgrounds standing on top of a “pedestal of support,” made from many hands interlocked with one another, according to Ugone.

Other symbols include: a button representing the city’s factory history; hands representing volunteerism; and a woman fishing on the pond, to name just a few.

At the top of the sculpture will sit a globe with Easthampton’s star signifying the “you are here” location.

“Without words or reading a plaque, people can look in and see these icons and figure out they have an artistic meaning with, in this case, a nod to community and volunteerism,” said Ugone.

Azzarello noted that, once installed, additional signage will be added with a link to a “living, growing list of dedicated community members who have contributed their efforts to Easthampton arts and cultural initiatives.”

The volunteer sculpture will be located near the stainless steel “Center of the Universe” sculpture, created in 2016 by Belchertown resident Brendan Stecchini.

“When the Nashawannuck Pond Promenade was designed, the city planner, in partnership with Easthampton City Arts, had advocated for two concrete pads to be poured and included in the promenade so that they could inhabit and support future public sculptures,” said Azzarello. “For all these years, the second concrete pad has been awaiting its future sculpture.”

Installation of the sculpture is expected to take place in April 2024, according to Foreso.

“The sculpture, even though it’s stationary, will have a life of its own. And that’s a mystery,” said Foreso.

Maddie Fabian can be reached at mfabian@gazettenet.com or on Twitter @MaddieFabian.]]>