North Adams City Hall Hosts 'Daydream' Sculpture
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The work had initially been envisioned for the Eagle Street pocket park but found a more prominent home at City Hall.
Instead, "Daydream" has a more prominent place of honor on the front lawn at City Hall.
"It's amazing, an incredible honor to have my piece as a permanent installation here at the corner at City Hall," May said Friday morning as his aluminum sculpture was officially recognized with a ribbon cutting.
May had first approached the Public Arts Commission with his concept in 2023, receiving enthusiastic approval to place it in the Eagle Street park or elsewhere on public property. The park, however, is still out sorts after the emergency demolition of the adjacent building which required its gardens and pavers to be moved. It's currently hosting the temporary "Hatchlings" artworks.
"Daydream" needed robust footings to hold its weight steady and these were poured by the city crew. And Mayor Jennifer Macksey was more than happy to have the piece at City Hall.
"I always thought it was amazing, and we talked about it for years," she said. "I think it's just an honor and a great tribute to someone who moved here, invested his time, energy and family in our community, and I'm so forever grateful."
May and his wife, Barbara, had moved their family to North Adams after he graduated from chiropractic college in Chicago in 1987. He'd read about the nascent plans for Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
"I thought it'd be interesting moving someplace that was going to use art as its centerpiece for revival," he said. "I thought that I could participate in and contribute to that revival and meet a lot of interesting people along the way."
Coming around the Hairpin Turn to see the foliage on a September day "sealed the deal," he said.
Being around artists and art and "seeing their wonderful creations lit a spark in me that inspired the making of this piece," May said.
The artist whom he'd wanted to produce his concept didn't have the time, so he took metal fabrication courses with Mike Augspurger and Leni Fried at Old Stone Mill in Adams. When considering how to cut the half-inch thick sheets of aluminum, he asked Ed Therrien at Morrison Berkshire, whose crew not only took on the cutting but delivered the pieces to May for the sanding finishes, then picked them up to weld and deliver to City Hall.
The piece is in two parts — a curved teardrop shape intersects a offset circle with the tear's tip hovering just above the ground.
"I showed them the angles I wanted. They had to calculate, because there are footings under here," he said. "It was amazing to watch them make it to my specs, where it has this angle, but the front stays off the ground about 6 inches. ...
"I can't sing their praises high enough. They are a tremendous asset and resource for our community."
The result is about an 8-foot by 5-foot metal sculpture with a finish on the circle that creates a holographic effect when the light hits it. As for what "Daydream" means, May says it's up to the observer.
"What it means to me is the story I just told you of how it came into creation," he said. "People will look at art and see what they see ... the way that I started appreciating art after my college years was that it doesn't have to mean anything if it gets you to think.
"If you like it or don't like it, that doesn't even matter if it stirs you away from your everyday reality and make you look at something different and think something different and create a different thought process, an emotional level, or whatever. That's what art is."
Tags: art installation, sculpture,
