Demise of 'Playback' upsets sculptor

By RONALD LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Hades hath no fury like an artist scorned.

It would be an understatement to say that sculptor Helene Fesenmaier of Greenwich, England, is disappointed by the Public Library Board's decision Thursday to remove her "Playback" sculpture from the library's main floor where it has greeted library patrons for over two decades.

Because the sculpture took up "too much space" and didn't work anyway, the board decided to pull the large, metal sculpture off the floor and put it in storage until such time as another place for it in the community could be found. However, board members didn't know where that might be.

A city crew removed the sculpture and took it to an off-site location for storage Friday afternoon, Board Member Linda Moriarty said.

In an e-mailed letter to The Journal, Fesenmaier wrote, "As for its not working, the mechanism is easily corrected on site, and the idea of the whole work being removed and placed in storage is deeply hurtful."

She called the dismantling of the sculpture to put into storage "an act of vandalism that must, I think, give many people pause before making future donations of money and art to the Library."

David Sturges of New Ulm, a friend of the sculptor, said, "I find it very disappointing that the board is ignoring the history of the sculpture. They should look at the long history of the New Ulm Public Library Board with its involvement in the culture and the arts of the community."

Sturges said he was writing a letter to the board, asking the members to reconsider their decision. "And I'm certainly willing to help in any way I can to get it (the sculpture) running again."

"I told several board members before the meeting began that it was a very sensitive issue," retired Library Director Dan Reilly said. "There's nothing more insulting you can do to an artist."

Reilly had just come on board as library director 26 years ago when Fesenmaier was in the final stages of creating the work.

"She's a very well known sculptor in Europe, and this was something she wanted to give to the community, as well as in memory of her father who was a doctor in New Ulm," Reilly recalled.

Board Chairman Jim Aufderheide and Moriarty said they were caught off guard by this negative reaction because they have only heard good comments about the decision.

"I think we made it clear that things change, and we're now serving an entirely different patronage," Aufderheide said. "We don't want to be insensitive to any artist, and it was not showing contempt for the art work. The library's just moving into a different era, and it was a matter of space.

"I totally understand she has an attachment to a work of art," he continued. "If there is a place for it, I certainly hope that it can be displayed somewhere."

Moriarty said she had no reaction to the artist's comments. "The only reaction I've heard has been a favorable one."