Harvey Rice Elementary and The Sculpture Center, Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland’s Sculpture Center received partial funding to conserve the Harvey Rice Monument (1899) by James C.G. Hamilton through the SOS! Conservation Treatment Awards (made possible by Target Stores and the National Endowment for the Arts). Mr. Rice is called the father of Cleveland’s public school system. When the statue was rededicated in October 1999, Juilee Decker of The Sculpture Center invited 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders from Harvey Rice Elementary to participate in the ceremony.
The
students took advantage of this unique opportunity to learn more about their school’s
namesake. Art teacher Marla Keilin helped them research Mr. Rice’s life and the
portrait of him that hangs in their school. A parent lent the children a
nineteenth-century book that mentioned Harvey Rice. The students shared their projects
with The Sculpture Center’s staff.
Ms. Decker reports that the recollections of the sculptor’s descendants at the rededication ceremony "really hit home with the students." Conservation professional Tom Podnar of McKay Lodge Fine Arts Conservation Laboratory in Oberlin, Ohio, was also on hand to talk with the students about the conservation processes used. Following the ceremony, the youngsters received a special tour of the neighboring Fine Arts Garden and learned that since the sculptures in the garden are owned by the City of Cleveland, the art belongs to them, too. Ms. Decker’s thank-you notes from the students illustrate the effect the event had on them.
Harvey Rice would be so proud!
"I loved that field trip that you invited us to yesterday, on Thursday. I like all of the things that you gave us, and I liked all of the statues that we went to go see." — Latesha
"We enjoyed meeting different speakers. I loved the speech of the great, great grandson. He looks like he is very nice. The statue is nice. I like how Tom Podnar fixed up the statue." — Kalia
"Thank you for inviting us to the ceremony for the statue. It was very fun learning about Harvey Rice, the man." — Dominique
"Thank you for inviting us. We loved the tour. It was neat and fun. I enjoyed it and I liked the speakers. And I liked the bookmark and the postcards, they were nice too. I really loved it. Thank you a lot. I really, really liked it." — Leslyn
Other students wrote essays about their experiences. Here's some of what they had to say:
"Being at the ceremony was really fun. I know many other sculptors like Henry Moore, Antony Caro, August Rodin, John Clague, Don Drumm, Max Kalsh, and V. Schrekengost. They are cool artists. They make three-dimensional artwork."— Katie
"When I was picked for the art museum to see the rededication of the Harvey Rice statue, I was kind of happy. When we got there, I saw all kinds of kids, people, and statues." — Demarco
"What I liked about the rededication is that we met cool artists and we learned more about sculptures, how they make them, how they design and clean them." — Danielle
"We saw how old it was at first. He looked sad. It was green and a dingy looking color. Then I saw how clean it was after they cleaned it. He looked much better." — Kalia
Photo courtesy The Sculpture Center