New sculpture dedicated at Swope Museum

Friday December 7 marked the coming of “The Sprit of Space,” a sculpture by Bob Esmer, to Terre Haute’s art community. The sculpture was placed early on Friday in front of the Swope Art Museum in downtown Terre Haute. The sculpture is part of a series of sculptures being brought to Terre Haute by the local organization Art Spaces, Inc.

The sculpture dedication brought out dozens of citizens from the Wabash Valley, including some from Rose-Hulman. Also in attendance was Terre Haute’s Mayor Kevin Burke, who mentioned how he was “extremely proud” of progress of this sort in Terre Haute, citing the other two sculptures of this series began by Art Spaces, Inc. The dedication was seen as a portion of the entire art revival of downtown Terre Haute which also includes recent sculptures in front of many area businesses.

The sculpture itself is comprised of four major parts, two copper pieces and two “clamshell” pieces that come together to take on the form of a traditional tabletop globe. The artist, Bob Esmer, feels that this sculpture has a “synergetic” sense about it, when four of these pieces come together. This is not the sculptor’s first work. He has been sculpting for twenty-nine years now and he has sculptures in four continents and twenty-seven states.

The dedication of “The Spirit of Space” was the beginning of a long weekend of festivities for Terre Haute. Downtown Terre Haute, an organization to help in the promotion and rejuvenation of Terre Haute’s downtown area, was handing out reindeer antlers, elf hats, and Santa hats to passing pedestrians. There also was an event entitled “Party on the Pavement,” an event designed and organized by the Vigo County School Corporation for the local school children.