First installation in a planned sculpture trail

By Patricia Platt

The Norfolk Community Association (NCA) will unveil Jon Riedeman’s sculpture, the Owl of Good Fortune, at Robertson Plaza on Saturday, Sept. 2, at 2 p.m. The public is invited to the event, which will include an introduction by the NCA, comments by Jon Riedeman, and music by Michael Cobb. Looking over City Meadow, the sculpture is the first installation of a sculpture trail planned by the NCA to connect Norfolk’s monuments and cultural highlights. 

Doreen Kelly, co-president of the NCA with Barry Webber, explained, “We wanted to have a local sculptor create our first piece on the trail and Jon came to mind as the person who could create art that relates to Norfolk and is pleasing to many people in town. We told him that we wanted an owl but didn’t direct his artistic creativity. We are very pleased with Jon’s result and think it clearly meets our goal to enhance Norfolk’s reputation as a place where art meets nature.”

When asked how he named the piece, Riedeman said, “The title, Owl of Good Fortune, was inspired by the dichotomy that exists in our minds and in our culture about the owl. To some, an owl is a bird of wisdom, intuition, and prophecy. But in some cultures, the owl is viewed as an evil spirit and associated with dark forces.  For example, in the Cherokee culture the owl is an evil spirit, but the Dakota see the owl as a protective spirit. These many facets of the owl’s personality and history were elements that I wanted to express in the sculpture; but when I titled the piece, I wanted to christen this owl as an owl of good spirits, of good fortune.”

“The sculpture was originally made from clay. I then made a plaster cast of the piece, which I brought to the New York Art Foundry in Newburgh, New York. They cast it in bronze using the lost wax method, the same technique that has been used to cast bronze for thousands of years,” Riedeman added.

Reideman’s Owl of Good Fortune is a part of NCA’s most recent project,  the creation of a sculpture trail to encourage modern-day artistic contributions to the town. Kelly explained, “Because Norfolk has such a connection with the arts, we came up with the idea of creating a sculpture trail that would connect the town’s existing cultural works. Our goal is to connect Norfolk’s village pathways with visual points of interest that will encourage public exploration and engagement.” Walter Godlewski, co-director of the trail project, added, “We are looking to connect the cultural islands in town that are separated by route 44 by installing contemporary works that will draw people from one end of town to the other, with the idea that in the future the sculpture trail will include more areas of Norfolk.” 

The Norfolk Community Association, started in 1895, is a non-profit group dedicated to beautifying Norfolk’s common spaces and maintaining the charm of Norfolk for the benefit of residents and visitors. Traditional and ongoing projects have included placing flowers and plantings throughout town, hosting an annual Cleanup Day, displaying the Memorial Day flag, and putting up holiday lighting. Under Co-President Barry Webber’s direction, the NCA restored  local historic monuments, including the Battell Fountain, the World War I Memorial, and the Alfredo Taylor railroad gate by the Norfolk Library.

For more information on the Norfolk Community Foundation and the Sept. 2 unveiling of Jon Riedeman’s Owl of Good Fortune, see https://nca-ct.org/