Bergen artist involved in large scale
public sculpture project

In 2004, Bergen sponsored its first public mural, now in 2005 it will be sponsoring its first large scale public sculpture.

The sculpture, which is the work of three artists, will be installed in Zuber Park on the corners of Main and Rochester on Monday, June 27. It will be on display through Independence Day. The sculpture is of a soldier and measures eight feet by four feet by 24 feet.

"It will be initially installed a bronze color and during the week it's on display will be camouflaged, or painted 'into the background' of the park," Bergen artist Cindy DeFelice said. "This is a very unique piece that will only be up for a short time."

The artists working on the piece are DeFelice, Christian Tribastone from Webster and Merrill Kazanjian from New York City.

Because of the temporary nature of the material, the piece will only be up for a week, DeFelice said.

"Conceptually, the piece needs to be removed after it is painted, but in addition, making such a large sculpture out of permanent materials would have been cost-prohibitive and probably too controversial," DeFelice said.

She said that her "passion as an artist is to make public art for and within small cities and rural towns." Rural areas, DeFelice explains, present a myriad of unique challenges, the least of which is not finding enough interest in, and funding for, large art public works -- especially temporary ones.

"Creating this specific piece is a unique opportunity because of its content. Since 9/11, much artwork that is critical of our government and the political culture of America has been censored from the public realm through artists' inability to secure permission and funding to install it," DeFelice said. "It's unusual to find sponsorship for work like this piece, entitled 'Broken,' from a small municipality and its local organizations."

DeFelice said she has received support for the project from Wayne Bailey, the village mayor.

She also said she was influenced and inspired to create the piece when her husband, Joel, received orders last month to deploy to Iraq. "Shortly thereafter, I received several email prayers and images to 'Remember Our Soldier's Sacrifice' in Iraq and to basically 'not forget that we are fighting a war.' "