Fredericksburg Arts Commission Celebrates 10 Years of the Public Sculpture Project
New sculptures for 2025-26 are being installed this month.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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Since 2015, Fredericksburg’s Public Sculpture Project, a committee of the Fredericksburg Arts Commission (FAC), has brought large-scale, interactive art to the city’s public spaces.
Every year, the project puts out a call for entries and selects three new sculptures to install throughout the city. This month, the artists—assisted by the city’s public works and parks and recreation departments—installed the pieces that will make up the 10th anniversary series.
“We want to see if we can get people off social media and give them something to look at and think about and touch,” said Preston Thayer, the Public Sculpture Project’s founding director.
On Friday morning, Thayer; FAC Chair Kelley Drake; Commissioner Larry Hinkle; and staff from the city’s parks and recreation department were at the corner of Fall Hill Avenue and Village Lane to meet Maryland-based artist Davide Prete and help him install his 400-pound, 11-foot tall forged steel sculpture Icarus.
In Greek mythology, Icarus is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, who built wings of wax and feathers so the two could escape from labyrinth where they were imprisoned. Icarus ignored his father’s instructions not to fly too close to the sun, and its rays melted the wax, causing Icarus to fall into the sea and drown.
“This myth serves as an example of hubris or failed ambition, but it also represents human limits and what we try to do in order to overcome them” Prete wrote in a statement on his website about his piece. “The sculpture shows Icarus before his flight, standing in front of his future. The pair of wings formed by five shining, silver, tapered lines are in contrast with the earth bound figurative symbols in blackened forged steel that support them, the basic material nature gave us, what defines us as humans.”
Icarus has been previously installed in Salinas, Kansas and Charleston, Illinois. It’s among many large-scale sculptures that Prete—who was born in Treviso, Italy—has completed for public spaces.
Hinkle said public art is important because it makes art accessible to everyone in a community. “Art is part of a community’s identity, so why should it be exclusive to museums?” he asked.
Earlier this month, artist Hanna Jubran installed his piece In Motion at 406 Lafayette Boulevard, in front of the train station—a fitting location for the theme of the sculpture, which creates a feeling of movement.
There will be a third sculpture installed in front of Dixon Park at a later date.
In addition to the three temporary pieces, there are three permanent public sculptures throughout the city—Dancing Milkweed IV by David Boyajian, which was purchased by the FAC; Three Musketeers at the Wolfe/Kenmore/Prince Edward Street triangle, which was donated by the artist, Michael Bednar; and Morning Glory Bench by Jim Galluci, located on Riverside Drive at Wellford Street, which was purchased by the department of economic development and tourism.
Drake said the FAC has plans to increase the amount of public art in the city. There’s a mural subcommittee, which he said will hopefully launch its pilot project—a mural to cover the back of the Dorothy Hart Community Center—next summer.
Another subcommittee is exploring the idea of asphalt art—using art as a traffic-calming method at busy intersections.
“There have been studies done that found that installing art in the center of intersections or at turn lanes has reduced car-to-pedestrian accidents by 26%,” Drake said. He said the subcommittee, which is working with the Planning Commission and the public works department, is looking at the intersection of Sophia and Charlotte streets as a possible pilot of the asphalt art project.
Hinkle said another goal of the FAC is to raise awareness among local artists of the opportunities it presents.
Learn more about the Fredericksburg Arts Commission and the public sculpture project here.
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