Funding to build a statue that will honor Canandaigua’s Native American history is nearly complete, and the statue is on track to be installed by November 2013, said Peter Mulvaney, co-chair of the Seneca Statue Committee and a longtime Canandaigua resident.
The Statue Committee has raised about $110,000 to this point. That amount was enough to engage in contract discussion with sculptor Wayne Williams — a Finger Lakes Community College art professor and Phelps resident — and guarantee that the statue will be built.
The finished product will be between 6,000 and 7,000 pounds, about 11 feet tall at its highest point. It will feature four figures: a woman, two children, and a man carrying a bow and a satchel of arrows. It will be located at the northeast corner of the intersection at Main Street and Routes 5 and 20 in Canandaigua.
“It’s a wonderful step,” Mulvaney said of the pending contract. “It guarantees the building of the statue — it’s no longer an if, it’s a reality.”
While the statue’s construction is a reality, the committee still needs about $30,000 to $40,000 more to complete the project, Mulvaney said. That money will be used for a 4-foot pedestal to place the statue on, lights, and construction of a fence around the area, said Ed Varno, the executive director of the Ontario County Historical Society Museum.
Varno added that the statue will be an important addition to Canandaigua.
“Any community that is concerned about its past will have public art,” Varno said. “If they lose the sense in who they are, they lose their soul. Canandaigua has so much history, it’s ingrained (in the city’s culture).”
The statue is expected to be complete by Nov. 11, 2013 — Canandaigua Treaty Day. The unveiling will also be part of the city’s centennial celebration.
“Nov. 11, to a lot of people, is Veterans Day,” Varno said. “For us, it’s also Treaty Day.”
The contract includes a contingency for the statue in the event anything happened to Williams and he could no longer complete the project. In that instance, sculptor Dexter Benedict would fill in for Williams.
Follow reporter Scott Pukos (@MPN_SPukos) on Twitter
Funding to build a statue that will honor Canandaigua’s Native American history is nearly complete, and the statue is on track to be installed by November 2013, said Peter Mulvaney, co-chair of the Seneca Statue Committee and a longtime Canandaigua resident.
The Statue Committee has raised about $110,000 to this point. That amount was enough to engage in contract discussion with sculptor Wayne Williams — a Finger Lakes Community College art professor and Phelps resident — and guarantee that the statue will be built.
The finished product will be between 6,000 and 7,000 pounds, about 11 feet tall at its highest point. It will feature four figures: a woman, two children, and a man carrying a bow and a satchel of arrows. It will be located at the northeast corner of the intersection at Main Street and Routes 5 and 20 in Canandaigua.
“It’s a wonderful step,” Mulvaney said of the pending contract. “It guarantees the building of the statue — it’s no longer an if, it’s a reality.”
While the statue’s construction is a reality, the committee still needs about $30,000 to $40,000 more to complete the project, Mulvaney said. That money will be used for a 4-foot pedestal to place the statue on, lights, and construction of a fence around the area, said Ed Varno, the executive director of the Ontario County Historical Society Museum.
Varno added that the statue will be an important addition to Canandaigua.
“Any community that is concerned about its past will have public art,” Varno said. “If they lose the sense in who they are, they lose their soul. Canandaigua has so much history, it’s ingrained (in the city’s culture).”
The statue is expected to be complete by Nov. 11, 2013 — Canandaigua Treaty Day. The unveiling will also be part of the city’s centennial celebration.
“Nov. 11, to a lot of people, is Veterans Day,” Varno said. “For us, it’s also Treaty Day.”
The contract includes a contingency for the statue in the event anything happened to Williams and he could no longer complete the project. In that instance, sculptor Dexter Benedict would fill in for Williams.
Follow reporter Scott Pukos (@MPN_SPukos) on Twitter
