GREENSBORO — Two Massachusetts artists propose to turn a vacant lot on the Downtown Greenway into public art that celebrates tradition while creating a new gathering spot.
Mags Harries and Lajos Héder of Harries/Héder Collaborative unveiled their design on Wednesday for the West Smith and Prescott streets cornerstone, which has a theme of tradition.
The greenway’s public art panel chose the Cambridge, Mass., couple for their expertise in creating public art across the nation and internationally. In January, they came to Greensboro to seek the public’s ideas.
“We are hoping that this will be seen by folks as an invitation to come have fun here,” Héder told those gathered at the Greenway at Fisher Park Apartments near the site.
Called “Meeting Place,” their design depicts an open tentlike structure measuring 30 feet in diameter with seating, a small grassy stage, an organic orchard and native woodland vegetation.Continue Reading
The structure’s mesh roof will feature stainless steel script copied from letters written by city namesake Gen. Nathanael Greene to George Washington. Greene wrote his observations from Guilford Courthouse during the American Revolution.
Charlie Headington, a local gardening consultant, will plant the vegetation and orchard of cherry, pear, persimmon and plum trees. Local fabricators will create other elements.
Visitors will wander the site, which covers nearly a half-acre, on paths of crushed stone and gravel.
“Meeting Place” is the second of four major art installations to mark corners of the four-mile, paved recreational path developing around the city center. The project will be financed with $200,000 in private money raised for the greenway.
The first cornerstone, a towering metal sculpture called “Gateway of the Open Book,” stands on Lee Street.
Greenway Project Manager Dabney Sanders said she expects “Meeting Place” to be installed by year’s end.
Over the next five years, the nonprofit economic development group Action Greensboro and the city will use $26 million in federal and state money, local bond money and private donations to create the 12-foot-wide Downtown Greenway lined with landscaping and public art.
Those who gathered Wednesday agreed the community would use and appreciate “Meeting Place.”
“The neighborhood adjacent to this site is very active, so I think it’s going to be a great asset to that particular neighborhood especially,” city resident Joe Wheby said.
To Harries, the site can function in a variety of ways, such as an outdoor classroom with the orchard as a teaching tool and a place to celebrate the area’s tradition of music.
“Just come out with your instruments and jam together,” Harries said.
Before Harries and Héder showed their design, city officials cut the ribbon for the greenway’s third section along Smith Street between Eugene and Spring streets.
City Engineer Ted Partrick Jr. also showed the design for the greenway’s next phase. It will run from the intersection of East Lee Street and Murrow Boulevard, north under Summit Avenue, and end at the intersection of Fisher Avenue and North Greene Street.
To accommodate that 1.4-mile section, the city will narrow the three lanes on each side of Murrow Boulevard to two lanes, Partrick said.
The city doesn’t have funding for that section yet, Partrick said, but will complete the design so it can be built when the money becomes available.
Contact Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane at 373-5204, and follow @dawndkane on Twitter.
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