WILMINGTON — The first quarter of the Beaver Street sculpture is set up on the wall behind The Richards Group building by the Old School Community Center.
“The rest will be installed in May,” Wilmington Works Program Coordinator Meg Staloff said, “but we took advantage of one last warm day to install the completed sections.”
Saturday, Staloff said, was a “great day” spent with Payne and Elise Junker of Payne Junker Studios based in Chester. The couple was hired for the art project following a community vote last year.
Staloff said funding came via a Vermont Arts Council Animating Infrastructure Grant, an award of the inaugural Better Places Grant Program and community-based support including a grant from the Rotary Club of the Deerfield Valley.
The sculpture is designed to highlight many facets of the community, from mountains and wildlife to hikers and kayakers. It will be the Junkers’ biggest outdoor commission.
Elise previously said the wall on which the sculpture is being installed on starts at 80 feet long and 20 feet high then gradually drops to 3 feet high and has different angles.
Fundraising is still underway.
“Materials prices have gone up,” Staloff said. “And as always, the project is taking longer than we thought so we would love to be able to pay the artists a little more for all their time.”
Information about donating and the project can be found at beaverstreetart.com.
