Summit Public Art 2023-24

Your Guide to the Current Season

Looking for an outing that's out of the ordinary? Head downtown and take a self-guided tour of all the new and exciting public art on display here in Summit!

Our theme this year is Heavy Metal and features a variety of metal-based works that explore the possibilities of the medium in innovative and often surprising ways. From a pair of steel grizzlies (Dale Rogers' Mama Bear and Cub) to a mind-bending sculpture that seems to defy the laws of physics (Charlie Spademan's Surface Tension) to a semi-abstract exploration of the human form (Carolyn Salas's Tippy Toes) to a towering steel hive that definitely puts the "heavy" in the metal (DeWitt Godfrey's Louis), this season's lineup offers a wide range of works to intrigue and inspire!


We're also pleased to feature Sound Column, an interactive sculpture designed by Donna Conklin King and eighteen Summit High School students, as well as three of our ongoing exhibits—Emil Alzamora's Time Travelers, Donna Conklin King's Cave Painting, and Nancy Cohen's Your Water, My Sky. Also look for our latest permanent installation at the Promenade Fountain—Ray King's Pleiadesand a trio of eye-catching murals by internationally-acclaimed artists Hellbent, Kelsey Montague, and Paul Santoleri. And, as always, our open-air gallery remains free and open to families and art lovers of all ages.


Just bring along this handy guide and come see for yourself why Summit has earned a reputation as one of our state’s premier destinations for world-class public art!

New Installations

Louis

DeWitt Godfrey

Inspired by natural forms like seashells and honeycombs, DeWitt Godfrey creates artworks that can be experienced from within as well as from without. Composed of intricately stacked steel ovals, this striking hive-like structure, titled Louis, engages viewers from afar, inviting them in to admire an interior dome that opens to the sky. To learn more about Louis, click here. Location: Village Green where Broad Street meets Railroad Avenue.

Mama Bear and Cub

Dale Rogers

Dale Rogers’ sculptures combine his love of abstract geometrics with organic flowing lines and figurative appeal. Incorporating iconic and whimsical shapes—dogs, birds, or, in this case, a mother bear and her cub—he creates sophisticated yet easily recognizable designs that connect with viewers of all ages and serve as thought-provoking “visual postcards” on the local landscape. To learn more about Mama Bear and Cub, click here. Location: Village Green where Broad Street meets Elm Street.

Tippy Toes

Carolyn Salas

Carolyn Salas’ sculptures combine abstraction and narrative with a focus on the human form. Tippy Toes was inspired by lines from an Aldous Huxley poem: “That’s why you must walk so lightly. Lightly my darling, on tiptoes and no luggage.” To learn more about Tippy Toes, click here. Location: Village Green where Broad Street meets Railroad Avenue.

Surface Tension

Charlie Spademan

Charlie Spademan’s hand-forged artworks often explore the transformation of structural steel into organic forms. Constructed from stainless steel and cast-resin, this whimsical, mind-bending sculpture appears to show an anvil balancing on a balloon in an impossible but very convincing manner. To learn more about Surface Tension, click here. Location: Kaus Way near the intersection of Springfield Avenue and Woodland Avenue.

Sound Column

Donna Conklin King/RAMP Up Students

Created by artist Donna Conklin King, this interactive sound sculpture features working xylophone keys and more than a dozen glass mosaic mandala tiles designed by Summit High School students as part of SPA's Rising Artist Mentorship Program. Location: Summit Community Center at 100 Morris Avenue.

Continuing Installations

Time Travelers

Emil Alzamora

Time Travelers is a group of six life-size figures who appear to be visiting and observing our world from another dimension or another period in time, most likely the future. Though recognizable, they seem out of step with their surroundings. Watching them watch us, we begin to see the world as they do: as a whole new universe to be explored. To learn more about Time Travelers, click here. Locations: Lyric Pocket Park, Summit Promenade, Kaus Way.

Your Water, My Sky

Nancy Cohen

Your Water, My Sky is an investigation into place and our experience of it. Each image comes from the artist's personal experience of waterways impacted by climate change. Banners juxtapose glimpses of two different sites, reflecting their individualities and commonalities. These pairings are metaphors for our human relationships, providing visual connections that bring unity to the Village Green and unite us with our surroundings. To learn more about Your Water, My Sky, click here. Location: Village Green near the corner of Broad and Maple Street across from the Summit post office.

Cave Painting

Donna Conklin King

This mural of clouds and sky explores the possibilities of concrete as a medium while addressing the relationship between nature, architecture, and the inevitable ruins of civilization. Celebrating the object’s history by emphasizing its imperfections with silver leaf, the sculpture itself becomes an artifact, highlighting the notions of resiliency, history, and archeology. To learn more about Cave Painting, click here. Location: Village Green near intersection of Broad and Elm Streets.

Walk the Streets

Hellbent

Stretching across four floors, this sprawling mural, with its colorfully-patterned diagonal stripes, has transformed the facade of Summit's Springfield Avenue parking tier into a dynamic, eye-catching space. Artist Hellbent (JMikal Davis) describes his approach as "taking a vast array of colors and patterns and making them work together, which I think is what anyone wants from a community." To learn more about Walk the Streets, click here. Location: Springfield Avenue Tier Garage.

What Lifts You

Kelsey Montague

Since painting her first mural in New York’s Nolita neighborhood in 2014, artist Kelsey Montague has painted hundreds of murals on six continents and in dozens of cities across the globe. One of a series of her signature What Lifts You murals, this specially-commissioned pair of wings incorporates a number of features characteristic of Summit: a shade tree (for the city’s many parks and tree-lined streets), a train (for Summit’s Midtown Direct line to NYC), and a large sunflower (a nod to the sunflower patch growing nearby). Try on the wings yourself and snap a photo while you’re there! To learn more about What Lifts You, click here. Location: Look for it on the wall behind Bar Bacoa restaurant, where Maple Street meets Deforest Avenue. 

The Watcher

Paul Santoleri

This large-scale mural of a Great Blue Heron occupies the wall at Lyric Park with a commanding presence. Under its watchful eye, a dreamlike cityscape unfolds just beyond the nest of its feathers. To learn more about The Watcher, click here. Location: Lyric Park, where Beechwood Avenue meets Bank Street.

Permanent Installations

Pleiades

Ray King

Commissioned to mark the 50th anniversary of the Promenade Fountain, this dynamic glass sculpture utilizes glass panels coated with a metallic film developed by NASA to both reflect and project an ever-changing array of color and light. At the sculpture's center, a cluster of spheres suspended on stainless steel cables references the constellation Pleiades, named after the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione. To learn more about Pleiades, click here. Location: Promenade Fountain, 426 Springfield Avenue.


Silver Sentinel

Douwe Blumberg

Artist Douwe Blumberg's homage to this city of trees greets visitors at the Gateway to Summit. Says Blumberg: "When I do a piece, my goal is to capture something special in it. I'm not interested in 'pretty.' I want a spark of life." To learn more about Silver Sentinel, click hereLocation: Down the hill from town where Broad Street meets Dayton Road.

Arboretum

Valerie Larko

Stained glass panels inspired by cherry blossoms in full bloom at Summit's Reeves Reed Arboretum. To learn more about Arboretum, click here. Location: Bus Stop where Broad Street meets Railroad Avenue.

Spring & Fall

Judith Weber

Stained glass panels of abstract leaves referencing spring and fall. To learn more about Spring & Fall, click here. Location: Bus Stop where Broad Street meets Summit Avenue.

While Waiting

Barbara Ellman

Stained glass panels of crisp, colorful abstract forms reference a city's rhythms, momentum, and diversity. To learn more about While Waiting, click here. Location: Bus Stop where Maple meets Broad Street.

Want to See More?

Explore our online gallery at www.summitpublicart.com to see inspiring works from both the past and the present.

Click here to visit our online gallery!

Or follow us on Facebook and Instagram @summitpublicart where you'll find all the latest news on all of our SPA artists, special events, and upcoming installations. To receive our newsletter, send us your email address c/o summitpublicarts@gmail.com, and we'll be happy to put you on our list.

Summit Public Art Needs You!

As a 100% volunteer-run, donor-funded, city-based organization, we rely on the generosity of friends and neighbors just like you to provide the public art and community projects that you, your families, and visitors to our town enjoy each day. Since 2002, Summit Public Art has installed over 90 works of temporary artworks, many by artists of national and international renown.


We know that the last few years have been especially challenging for all of us, which is why we greatly appreciate any contribution you might be able to provide. No amount is too small!


If you would like to help us continue to enrich and inspire our community through public art, please click on the button below:

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Summit Public Art | summitpublicarts@gmail.com | www.summitpublicart.com