On a steamy day in July, the City of Liberty and the Liberty Arts Commission unveiled a new sculpture in historic downtown Liberty. Jacob Burmood’s Plumb Twisted, a sculpture of steel, fiberglass, resin, red iron oxide and graphite, is the first sculpture selected through a new public art grant program in the City of Liberty.
According to the artist, the 5½ foot tall Plumb Twisted is “an expression of organic movement and gravitational pull. The contrast of these forces reaches a compromise in the middle where the twirling thorns begin to point downward and stretch to the ground to create a support structure.”
“One of the reasons I love public art is because it gets art outside of the gallery and puts in front of people who maybe wouldn’t normally interact with it. It also puts the artwork where … normal, everyday lives unfold,” said Burmood.
The sculpture is situated in a small green space along a sidewalk that connects a charming residential district to historic downtown Liberty. This intersection of life and art is frequented by elementary school students on their walk to school each morning, visitors to the Clay County Archives, and William Jewell College students heading to downtown Liberty for a break between classes.
The unveiling event included a brief Q&A with the artist during which he shared his process for creating the layers of material that went into the twisting and pulling form of Plumb Twisted. For the foundation of the sculpture, Burmood used flexible window screening, which allowed him to manipulate the underlying form of the sculpture. The screen was then covered with fiberglass and different blends of oxides to give the resin its color.
Check out the video of the unveiling, including remarks by Burmood followed by a Q&A with the artist, on the Liberty Arts Commission’s Facebook page
The City’s new public art grant programs are designed to bring art to places that intersect with people’s daily lives. The Liberty Arts Commission hopes to add two more sculptures to the public landscape before the year is out. To learn more about the grant program, visit www.libertymissouri.gov/artgrants.
Plumb Twisted will be on display through mid-July 2018 in a small park just west of the Clay County Archives, in the 200 block of W. Franklin.
