Art For Art's Sake - Bring Molly Back

I'd be the first to admit that I "don't get it" when I see a lot of modern art sculptures in plazas, public buildings and along walkways. Often they seem to be odd shapes and incongruent sizes of metal assembled in a hodge-podge, willy-nilly fashion.

But, I'm a big fan of art that I understand. The downtown Cedar Rapids program a few years ago that featured new takes on Grant Wood's "American Gothic" characters was great. So were the Wright Brothers flyers, many of which you still see around the city.

So, when I ran out to the new Kirkwood Center for Continuing Education the other day to see what Cedar Rapids native Molly Mason had sculpted, I didn't know what to expect. (See today's Ramblin' column in The Gazette for my story on Molly and her work.)

What a fantastic surprise to, first, meet Molly, and second, see her sculpture, "Before The Sun Speaks" (pictured above). As a sixth-generation Cedar Rapidian -- her ancestors had the last name Krecsja -- Molly's heart still lies here even though this hasn't been her residence since she graduated from Washington High School in 1970 and moved south to Iowa City and the University of Iowa to earn her education.

After  teaching around the country, Molly has settled in Port Jefferson, N.Y., which is near the center of Long Island. Each year she applies for something like 100 public art commissions and, in a good year, receives three or four of them.

Molly has been a huge advocate of public art, working hard to get it included in the laws of Louisiana and New Mexico when she worked in those states. Often 1 percent of a public building's budget is dedicated to art for that building. It not only helps the art community but gives the buildings much needed "individuality."

As Molly and I listened to the tranquil sounds of water flowing from her latest sculpture -- a pair of magnificent in-tune-with-nature stainless steel creations that stand 14 and 14 1/2-feet tall -- she discussed the philosophy behind her works and showed me countless photographs of what she has done. (To see some of those sculptures click here or here.) Sure, I might be prejudiced. While they are all beautiful, I think this one is her best. It is simply gorgeous and shows all of the hard work, something like 2,500 hours, she put into every detail because it was special for her to create art for her hometown.

While this Kirkwood building is a great place for Molly's sculpture -- indoors where it's out of the elements and in a large lobby where people who continue their educations can see it -- I almost wish it had been installed in downtown Cedar Rapids where more people would see it and they would see it more often.

That, of course, got me thinking as I returned to the office and wrote my column for The Gazette. Let's bring Molly back. Let's commission her to create a real tribute sculpture to her hometown, a sculpture to The Flood of 2008 and the hard work citizens face to recover. It could even include the "high water mark" as some people have suggested we erect so future generations understand the adversity Cedar Rapidians faced.

I haven't even mentioned this to Molly. But I know she could do it.