Madison County Economic Development Board announces winner of 2019 Madison Manufacturing Art Park sculpture competition

Press release from Madison County Economic Development Board:

Marshall, NC – Madison County Economic Development Board presents the Second Annual Madison Manufacturing Art Park Sculpture Competition – a juried competition presented annually in Madison County. The competition is made possible thanks to Funding provided by a grant from The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina.

The Madison County Economic Development Board sought an artist to design and develop a permanent piece of artwork for the Madison Manufacturing Public Art Park, which honors local manufacturers and their impact on Madison County. This year’s industry is Printpack, which is a national leader in developing innovative and flexible packaging. The company has several manufacturing facilities throughout the world; however, the focus for 2019 Madison Manufacturing Art Park project competition was the Marshall, North Carolina plant where they manufacture clean packaging for the health care industry.

The jury reviewed ten submissions from artists who reside in North Carolina, Kentucky, New Jersey, Texas, Tennessee, Michigan and West Virginia. After careful review, the jury chose Mary Ruden from Seymour, Tennessee for her Armillary Sundial sculpture entitled, “History Makes the World Go Round” in honor of Printpack.

Ruden indicates the following about her work,
“An armillary sundial is a classic sundial and it would be on a pedestal that has eight panels showing different motifs. It may be made of several metals . . . . Embossing, engraving, repousse, or pushed metal, are some techniques to achieve letters, Roman numerals, and images in the metal. The factory workers at Printpack may be shown in a scene on several of the side panels, and the other panels may have scenes from the Appalachian Trail such as native plants and trees. This makes the sculpture appealing from all sides and depicts the factory workers at their work.”

Ruden’s work met the objectives of the sculpture competition, which required the entries to create a piece that features the people, the product, and/or commits to utilize recycled materials from the highlighted industry to create the piece.

This year’s jury members were:
Nathan Bennett -Town Manager, Town of Mars Hill, Katie Graham – Board Member, Madison County Arts Council, Linda Hunter – Plant Scheduler, Printpack , Kenn Kotara – Professor and Chair, Mars Hill University’s Art Department, Melanie Kraft – Co-Director, Madison County’s Visitors Center, Rob Pulleyn – Artist and Owner, Marshall High Studios, and Tammie Whitlock – Vice President and Business Development Officer, First Bank.

The Madison Manufacturing Art Park is an embedded component of the Dr. Otis T. Duck Greenway in Mars Hill, NC, which located on the campus of Mars Hill University. The “History Makes the World Go Round,” sculpture will be the second installation to the Madison Manufacturing Art Park. The sculpture will be installed in the fall of this year.