WILLIAMSBURG — The Eiffel Tower-like base of what will be New England’s tallest recycled sculpture, at 42 feet, was unveiled on the lawn of Meekins Library on Saturday.
“America is a country of history illiterates,” the sculpture’s creator, James Kitchen, told some 30 community members who met in the library to celebrate the new art. The structure will be a patchwork of historical metals from across New England, and its final home, after its completion in about a year, has yet to be determined.
Kitchen, a sculptor and Chesterfield resident, said the 15-foot, 3,000-pound rounded steel beams on the lawn are relics from what had been Springfield’s State Armory, which was destroyed by a tornadoes in 2011. MGM Casino is currently located on the site.
The former Gothic structure, built in 1895, had 50-foot ceilings that were supported by dozens of beams like those that form the sculpture’s base.
“It just has a romance. It kind of feels like the Eiffel Tower, which was built at about the same time as the Armory,” Kitchen said about the unfinished structure that can be seen on the lawn.
For many years, the State Armory served as the primary facility for all militia companies based in western Massachusetts, and was also the largest space in Springfield for social functions. Because of its size, it had been used several times during emergencies, including a 1938 flood that devastated the area, said Kitchen.
He did a dumpster dive into wreckage following 2011’s tornadoes, which wrecked the building, and salvaged the pieces with the help of Charlene Baiardi, then a Springfield building inspector.
“I want to remind people about the history,” he said. “We just throw everything away without thinking. So I’m hoping I will have a lot of parts with a lot of stories.”
Once complete, the sculpture’s spire will be topped off with a Revolutionary-era canon ball that had been fired at Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, where in 1775 one of the most significant early battles of the war took place.
With the help of friends Rick Newton and Tom Sylvan, Kitchen was able to produce a rendering of the future sculpture, and then create a 42-inch proportional model with a 3-D printer.
The models show how in the center will be a sphere made up of a collection of artifacts, which Kitchen said will make the sculpture a “Where’s Waldo” of historical pieces.
As Kitchen tells his wife, “It’s not junk, it’s inventory.”
Among the “inventory” that will be in this center sphere will be a monkey wrench, or adjustable wrench, which had been invented in Springfield.
Kitchen will also be welding ice tongs into the piece, formerly used to deliver ice to households. “That was in the 1960s which doesn’t seem a long time ago,” he said.
He hopes that what is achieved is a reversal of America’s history illiteracy, and a renewed appreciation for the past.
“Remember all their hard work and labor,” he said, speaking of those who have gone before us.
When he finds vintage farm tools, for example, especially ones that are worn out, he thinks, “How many years was the farmer in the field, slicing and dicing?”
This is not the first piece Kitchen has featured at Meekins.
Over the past number of decades he has featured “over a hundred” sculptures which the library has given him permission to display. Last summer, the library featured a 12-foot tall modernist-looking spaceship.
Kitchen, originally a Wisconsin native, has been a sculptor for about 40 years, about as long as he has lived in the area.
Many of his pieces have been used as public art, particularly in Springfield, but also pieces at Western New England University.
And it is Springfield that Kitchen hopes his State Armory sculpture goes after it spends a year or so on the lawn of Meekins.
His ambition was for it to be erected by MGM Casino, the original home of the base’s steel beams.
But since the company is not interested, he asked MGM officials for other ideas.
“I’m good at thinking, designing and making. Actually finding the connection — not so much,” which has him eager for community input.
Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com.
