By: Karen Rossi

Location: New Haven Parking Authority Lot
Whalley Avenue and Blake Street

Medium: painted mild steel approx. 3/8” thick sheet metal (figures) inserted into
schedule 40 pipe, 3” diameter for the “stalks” and 1.5” for the “arms”

Date: Circa 1982

Introduction
Working under a commission from New Haven’s City Spirit Artists, a program led by Ruth Resnick and Terry Lennox, Karen Rossi designed an art installation that would end up determining the form and nature of her subsequent work in the public and fine art fields. Her whimsical flying figures, of a dog with a baseball in his mouth, a girl with an ice cream cone and others, served as inspiration for her “Fanciful Flights” characters, which are now made in all shapes and sizes, from large installation works to individual pins and jewelry. Rossi, a native of South Windsor, Connecticut, graduated from Southern Connecticut State University, and for the past twenty years has taught at Creative Arts Workshop and continues to work with art in hospital and other community settings. She began working with metal early on, due to her parents’ professional work managing an aerospace welding company.

This project came under the aegis of a city program that was community driven, and though only intended to remain in place for a few years, Westville did not want to take the work down, and thus, after spending more than twenty-five years in the elements, now needs restoration. Changes to the site have also occurred over time with little attention paid to the artwork. For example, within the past ten years a new signal light pole and a parking lot light have been installed – with the parking lot lamp actually placed so close to the first work of art, that one of the figures touches the lamp pole. Also, the small green area at the corner of the parking lot and sidewalk is neglected, Christmas decorations are still up, and the small area needs a general sprucing up.

Description & Condition
The art work is installed in the corner entrance to the Whalley Avenue New Haven Parking Authority lot in the Westville commercial district. The installation is comprised of three distinct stalks or shafts (3” in diameter), each one reaching a different height, with each stalk topped by extending arms which carry two-dimensional figures in profile, cut from steel. Two stalks carried three figures each, while the smaller stalk carried two figures. Currently, three of the eight original figures are missing (though one missing figure has been identified and will be returned to the artist). Each of these figures (general size: 2-5 feet in length) is representative of Westville’s businesses and community life – for example, the figure of a man that wears large round glasses is an allusion to the West Village Optician, which is still located diagonally across the street from the work of art, and another, the figure of the girl holding a bouquet, represented a flower shop (no longer there). The figures were originally painted black with areas of pigmented color which still remain, though many areas of rust now discolor the figures.

The installation is more than half intact, and considering its age (about twenty-five years), the stability of the main structural supports – the center stalk and the thinner arms – is the first question to answer. If the stalks and arms are structurally sound, it may be possible to insert new steel cut figures onto the shafts. Originally, Karen had designed the figures to swivel with the movement of the wind (a nod to the stabiles and mobiles of Alexander Calder, one of Karen’s inspirations), but this function was negated when installers put WD-40 into the bearings, thus eating the lubricant. The umbrella arms were eventually bolted onto the stalks.

Artist Statement
Polly Fiddler and her two partners had opened a folk art shop on State Street . I had known them as the teacher of their young children at Creative Arts Workshop. Teaching at CAW, I was able to dabble in some of the other workshops at a reduced price. I had been unable to explore clay or metal in college as I had transferred to SCSU form Mass Art and had abundant art credits to my transcript. Working three dimensionally in the ceramic studio, I began to hand build large vessel themed birthday cakes and was even commissioned by CAW to create one for their birthday. After so many years of drawing and painting, it was thrilling to work with a third dimension. I started a basic welding/metal sculpture course with Ann Lehman. I was hungry to learn more, faster, as my parents owned a specialty welding shop and offered my sister materials for her jewelry making. She directed me to Joe Correale, a volunteer in her class and newly retired the New Haven Parks Department.

For several years I studied with Joe at his house, learning traditional metal working techniques from the master. Somehow Polly and her partners found out about my metalworking and asked me to create artwork in metal for their first State Street show. I didn’t know what to make, so Polly directed me to create artwork of Gabriel the herald angel as depicted in early New England folk weathervanes and signage. This direction sent me flying to the library as I had a very limited knowledge of religion or folk art, even though we grew up attending church on one of the most historic and oldest Main streets in Connecticut . The artwork in the show sold well and as a member of City Spirit Artists, I was encouraged to apply for a 5K art grant to create an outdoor piece that would last for 5 years for the Westville section of New Haven . Based on weathervanes of Gabriel the herald angel, I designed 10 contemporized versions to represent Westville to be placed on stalks so that it would be difficult to vandalize, and won the opportunity.

The piece was constructed in South Windsor at my parents’ welding shop. I cut and welded the steel figures with oxy acetylene torches. Special bearings with an inner and outer race were purchased through Rae bearing. My parents welding business welded them to the inside of the pipes and also the shaft on the sculptures. This was a very delicate operation so as not to melt the casings of the race. If we weren’t so concerned about theft, a much easier design solution could have been offered (see drawings and photos).

With the pieces attached permanently to the arms, and the arms welded in place to a 3.5 ( approx) piece of pipe that would sleeve over the stalks, my job was just about done. The stalks were several pieces of schedule 40 (possibly 80) 3” pipe welded to the heights of (approximately 20 feet tall), not ncluding the 4-6 foot footings. As best I recall, The City of New Haven dug the holes for the footings (I believe it was the Parks Department) and poured the cement around the shafts. My dad’s business got everything down there in the old blue van. Once the shafts and footings were set up, the city brought a bucket loader to hoist the weathervane toppings into place. They drilled through the pipes to double bolt them.

As a touch of good measure they lubricated the bearings with WD 40. Later, when the sculptures froze and stopped moving, I complained to Rae Bearings, only to learn that the WD 40 eats the grease that was sealed in the casings. The extreme winds on the corner eventually took three of the pieces down. The city bolted the rest of them into place, before anymore were lost. At the end of the five years I contemplated removing the piece for two reasons. The first was financial as I had only been given 5,000 dollars to create the piece; the opportunity existed to resell it. The second issue was liability. The sculpture was only guaranteed to stand for 5 years, and I did not want to be part of a lawsuit should the piece fall on someone due to neglect. The Westville Association implored me to leave the piece and promised to care for it. Since it was the centerpiece of my career, I agreed to leave it on display.

Eventually a new and improved Gabriels II was designed and installed at Evergreen Walk in Manchester, Connecticut (see photo at left). The cost to fabricate Gabriels II was approximately 35K in 2004, not including artist fees or installation costs.

 

GABRIELS: installation of Gabriels, circa 1982. Artist Karen Rossi (in red). Photo by Bob Gregson.

NEW HAVEN ARTWORK: The Gabriels sculpture still stands in its original on Whalley Avenue and Blake Street in New Haven, Connecticut.

DOG: Figure of dog with real baseball in his mouth. Note rusted arms supporting figure, especially linear break in the steel at the very lower right corner.

FLYING GIRL: Figure with remaining original paint and new rust. Note that the head of this figure now touches the aluminum light post, which was put in place after Gabriels was installed.

HOME | ABOUT US | CREATIONS | ROSSI NEWS | TO THE TRADE | FOR KIDS | SHOP | SITE INDEX

© 2004 R O S S I S T U D I O S
info@karenrossi.com | legal disclaimers