TROY — Barker Park was filled with
jubilance and curiosity Friday morning as the Downtown Business
Improvement District held a press conference for the official unveiling
of the Uncle Sam Project just in time for April’s Troy Night Out.
The
downtown BID, the city, the Rensselaer County Historical Society and
the Louis and Hortense Rubin Community Fellows Program partnered
together to present the Uncle Sam project, featuring 30 Uncle Sam
statues located throughout the city. According to BID Executive Director
Elizabeth Young, 13 of the statues were sponsored by businesses while
the other 17 will be auctioned off in November to benefit five school
groups and funding for the project.
Several of the statues had
already been unveiled prior to the event but several gathered around one
statue, titled “The Birds of Oakwood Cemetery,” wrapped in red, white
and blue, waiting to be unveiled by Young, Mayor Lou Rosamilia and the
artist Judith Vincent.
“I’d like to say that this morning the
Downtown Troy BID is welcoming 30 new residents to the streetscape of
Troy,” Young said at the press conference.
Excitement had been
building over the past few weeks as the statutes were scattered around
downtown but wrapped in black plastic until their unveiling yesterday
morning.
Young said she was gluing plaques onto one of the
statues Thursday when a CDTA bus pulled over and the driver asked when
the statues would be visible.
“She said, ‘I can’t wait one more day for them to be uncovered,’” Young recalled.
Vincent
echoed the same feelings regarding her fiberglass Uncle Sam statue,
which features 83 different species of birds she has seen at Oakwood
Cemetery, the resting place of Uncle Sam.
After spending some 200
hours working on the statue by painting the birds with acrylic paint
and a finish coating provided by the BID, Vincent has been waiting for
some time for it to be revealed to the city. She was also excited by the
prospect of more people, especially young people, coming downtown to
take a tour a view all of the different statues and even possibly
stopping into some restaurants or stores on their way.
“If they
take a tour they will see a restaurant or a shop,” Vincent said. “There
are wonderful places down here people don’t know about. And I’m just so
happy [the statue] was finally unveiled and people can enjoy it.”
John
Bulmer, a photographer who was commissioned by the Kaleel Jamison
Consulting Group to create “The Unseen Collar City,” was just as excited
to give back to a city he has lived and worked in all his life. His
statue, located in front of the Atrium, was covered in pictures, which
were placed on UV resistant wrapping used on vehicles and molded onto
the figure using a heat gun. Bulmer said it depicted scenes of Troy many
residents had never seen before.
“It illustrates how beautiful
of a landscape Troy can be,” Bulmer said. “I think people see things all
the time but are not used to seeing them in a different way.”
Some
residents see it as a possibility to build more interest in coming to
Troy and even possibly giving a helping hand to local businesses in a
tough economy. Resident Tiffany Novogrodsky, who was outside of Truly
Rhe viewing Truly… Uncle Sam, said she enjoyed walking around and seeing
the different iterations of Uncle Sam.
“When you walk around
Troy, there’s not a whole heck of a lot to look at,” Novogrodsky said,
adding it could potentially help businesses. “It’s definitely not taking
away.”
Others
felt it could inform those from outside of the city that it has a
different side to it. Resident Christina Smith said she had seen photos
of the statues on the Troy Night Out’s Facebook page and couldn’t wait
to see them unveiled.
“It gives Troy a little bit more of an identity,” Smith said. “It let’s people know the rich history of Troy.”
Rosamilia
was elated as he spoke about the possibility of people traveling to the
city to see an iconic American historical figure portrayed through the
various statues,
“As a result, people will come into the city to
see this artwork,” Rosamilia said. “I’m so excited about this whole
thing. It’s wonderful for the city of Troy and hopefully these will be
here for many years to come.”
Andrew Beam may also be reached at 270-1294.
© 2013 Troy Record
