Three options for the next piece of public art, pictured clockwise from left, are: Midsummer by Hanna Jubran; Digital Gate II by Jim Gallucci and Steel Butterfly by Benton & Sons.
Vote open for new Sampson East Park design
The art that greets visitors traveling in and out of Clinton’s main western corridor is soon to change — and that design is being left to the public, with three options on the table and a deadline set to make the selection.
In Spring 2023, partners Sampson Community College, the SCC Foundation, City of Clinton, and Sampson Arts Council agreed to install a community-selected, public art sculpture pad in SCC’s Sampson East Park, just off N.C. 24 (Sunset Avenue). Scheduled to be interchanged yearly, the artwork is currently “Waterdrop” by Hanna Jubran, which will bid farewell in late summer.
The community vote is currently open to replace the display piece. Voting is open until May 3.
“Waterdrop” first took its place at SCC’s Sampson East Park in August 2023. Just a month later, in September 2023, Jubran made a return to Sampson to install the second of his public art pieces “Earth, Water, Fire, Wind,” which was erected in the All-American Park in Clinton, just off Fayetteville Street.
Having those sculptures installed — both also the result of a public vote — brought to fruition a plan by the local partners to make the idea of having more public art a reality. That plan is now continuing.
A call for artists was issued in February for the next piece of public art, and the Public Art Initiative Committee narrowed the choices to three sculptures designed by Benton & Sons Fabrication, Jim Gallucci, and Hanna Jubran. Installment of the selected piece will begin in August.
The options include:
• Midsummer (measuring 17’x10’x6’) by Hanna Jubran, described as “a sculpture created to identify the moment of celebration in nature”
• Steel Butterfly (measuring 14 feet tall) by Benton & Sons, “one of the finely-crafted steel lawn sculptures in their collection.”
• Digital Gate II (measuring 14’x6’x2’) by Jim Gallucci, which is said to “highlight the computing age with bytes of information coming and going.”
Votes can be cast at www.surveymonkey.com/r/J6T7KHP.
Born in Israel, Jubran currently works as a Sculpture Professor and Sculpture Area Coordinator at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C. Yielding a M.F.A. in Sculpture from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Jubran regularly participates in international art shows, addressing the concepts of time, movement, balance and space in his creations.
Benton & Sons Fabrication is a family-owned business that has operated in large component steel fabrication and assembly since 1983. Located in Pikeville, N.C., they also specialize in lawn art, ornaments, and sculptures — famous in their area for their line of “Benton Dinosaurs.”
For more than 40 years, Gallucci has created sculpture pieces that have been exhibited throughout the U.S. and internationally. A graduate of Syracuse University with a M.F.A. in Sculpture, Gallucci has completed over 50 public art commissions, priding himself on his design of benches and gateways.
Local officials have touted the public art initiative as a way to bring something new and vibrant to the community, as well as draw interest locally and from outside Clinton and Sampson County.
“The public art provides a uniqueness in our communities, and it’s freely accessible to people,” Kara Donatelli of the Sampson Arts Council, said last year. “So we hope they will come out and view the piece and come up close to it. We hope to drive by and see people taking photos with it. There’s also an economic impact related to the public art, as it really does bring people from outside the community into the community so they can see it.”