East Lansing's first 100 years will be immortalized in welded steel this year, after being sculpted by the hands of John Neering, a 1951 MSU alumnus and resident of Grand Rapids.
The three-part sculpture will depict abstract people joined together as one in a circular build and will stand 7 feet tall at its highest point.
The East Lansing City Council approved the design at it's meeting Tuesday, though one member expressed concern about it. Students also voiced mixed views on the design when they saw Neering's sketched proposal on Wednesday.
"It's weird," horticulture junior Carl Johnson said. "It looks like a city to me…but it doesn't look like any of the buildings here."
The arts commission required applicants to be residents of East Lansing sometime in the past 100 years and willing to work within a $15,000 commission.
The funds will come from the portion of the arts commission's annual budget that normally is reserved for public art. Rather than spending the money on public art this year, the dollars were set aside for the centennial sculpture.
During the council's meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Vic Loomis said the limited funds might have played a role in the designs given for consideration.
"There was some question as to how this piece symbolizes the centennial," said Loomis, who also serves as the City Council's liaison to the arts commission. "A riveting factor in the type of work that was brought forward — they had only $15,000 to work with, so they couldn't give the kind of sculpture we might've expected."
After looking at a drawing of the sculpture for a few moments and then hearing the title, zoology and psychology senior Sasha Fawaz saw what Neering had envisioned.
"You can see the heads, and everyone's joined together, rather than in separate statues," Fawaz said. "It reflects how we're all in the same city. We live in a very artsy city, so this is great."
Neering beat out 11 other applicants, who were vying to create East Lansing's centennial sculpture.
Carrying the title "Community," Neering focused the design on people because "people are what make a community," he said.
"The competition was something that would be significant to East Lansing," Neering said. "Not knowing what route they were looking toward, I just decided people are what make a community."
Neering, who has practiced welding for almost 50 years, will craft the centennial sculpture this summer. The dedication is slated for September at the sculpture's home in Valley Court Park.
Once East Lansing's Art Selection Panel narrowed its choices down to four finalists, the panel sent a recommendation for Neering's proposal to the city arts commission.
The commission usually has two or three designs to choose from, but only received one from the selection panel, East Lansing's Arts Program Coordinator Sharon Radtke said.
The arts commission passed the recommendation on for the City Council's review on Jan. 18, but commission members were "not pleased" with the lack of choices, Radtke told the council.
