It's the first public art project to be unveiled in Greer and the sculptors behind it are students from the J. Harley Bonds Career Center.
Last year, the City of Greer gifted $10,000 to the Greer Cultural Arts Council to commission the piece.
Jacob Maxy and Derrick Francis, recent graduates of Wade Hampton High School, were tasked to build a 3-D sculpture titled “Reaching for the Stars."
The sculpture, which incorporates the Arts Council's motto and logo, was part of a SkillsUSA Community Project, according to Maxy and Francis.
"I was surprised when I was told I was doing a project for the City of Greer," Maxy said. "I was more blown away when I was told it was art and the size of it."
The duo spent about 120 hours working on the project from the design conception to installation.The piece was installed near the entrance of the Cannon Centre. Maxy said they had to clean the stainless steel sculpture at the location and then finish the final welding.
Francis leaves tomorrow to join the U.S. Navy. Maxy will attend Greenville Technical College in the fall.
Scott Ibbotson, who chairs the Arts Council, said Maxy and Francis went "way beyond anything he had anticipated."
"We do our biggest productions at the Bond Center, so we decided it would be cool to work with them," Ibbotson said. "To have them create a three-dimensional piece of art from a piece of paper is mind-blowing."
Scot Thompson, an instructor at J. Harley Bonds, said the project is a great example of utilizing the skills of the career center in the community. Thompson said the experience allowed the students to step outside their normal classroom work and really challenge their skills.
"It's a great experience for a student to move from the classroom out to a job," Thompson said. "They get to see what it's really like to work on a project — to deal with the heat, to manage their time, to know what the expectations are and then to complete the work."
Ann Cunningham, director of the Greer Parks and Recreation Department, said she would love to see the park filled with art. She said this first piece was a good first step.
"We are thrilled. We couldn't ask for better," Cunningham said. "Reaching for the Stars, it's the most perfect piece of artwork we could put out here for our first piece."
Cunningham said that once the key players fell in to place, the project went very quickly.
Ibbotson said he is thankful for the City of Greer in helping to establish a public art project.
"Often you hear 'we support you,' but through their generosity the let us know that they do."
A second piece will be commissioned next year.
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