Client: Ramona Moxley King
Location: Winston Salem, NC, United States
Completion date: 2022
Artwork budget: $65,000
Project Team
Fabrication
Mark Land and Gabe Bridges
Metalmorphasis
Welding / Metal work
Paul Spainhour
Metal working
Drew Gerstmyer
Designer / Project Manager
Ramona King
Mona + Associates Design, LLC
Overview
Still I Rise; Resilience City of Winston Salem. This project was designed to represent the past, present and future of the city of Winston Salem, NC. Like many cities in the southeast, it was built on the finances of the tobacco, textile, banking and similar industries. Through economic changes the city has to reinvent itself to remain vital. The sculpture represents all that we have become and will continue to grow and develop in the future. The columns represent growth and the words; EDUCATION, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, BUSINESS, CITY OF ARTS, MEDICINE, INNOVATION represent the diverse diaspora of our community. The Red Oak Leaves represent the State of North Carolina and the beauty of Nature. The sculpture stands 13 ft high by 8 ft wide and 5 ft deep. Visitors can walk through the sculpture and interact with the hand crafted compass made of tools and building materials found in old building sites. The leaves will continue to patina as well as the beams as they are made of corten steel. It sits upon a base of brick pavers representing the hand built bricks in many of our building.
Goals
Commissioned art allowed the collaboration of the many talents and multiple disciplined artists, designers, metal makers, welders and design professionals in our community. We wanted to show that we could utilize design thinking, research, plan and design a structure that allowed each team member to show their creative skills and expertise.
Process
As the Designer and Project Manager I reached out to design professionals that were recommend or I had long admired their work. We had conversations on expectations and roles in the process. This project began prior to COVID, it was not installed until 2022. As a team we were able to successfully address issues of materials, inventory, cost increase, delivery and other challenges. Working with the City, the Property owners and other key stakeholders we designed, created and installed within the budget restrictions.
Additional Information
The sculpture represents resilience, problem solving and ability of a dedicated diverse team of seasoned artists to collaborate, problem solve and respect the work completed. Secret - if a person were to tap the leaves they will actually move and sway. We decide not to reveal this to the public.