The show must go on!! Nashua International Sculpture Symposium is pleased to announce the 13th annual Nashua International Sculpture Symposium Opening on August 20th. Three sculptors will be spending three weeks outside at The Picker Artists at 3 Pine Street in Nashua, each creating a large outdoor sculpture to be given to the City and installed in a public place for all to enjoy.

The 2020 Symposium sculptors are Taylor Apostol from MA, Elijah Ober from ME and Kelly Cave from PA. The 2020 sculptors all live within a day’s drive from Nashua and each will self-quarantine for two weeks before arriving in Nashua. The sculptors will be directed by James Larson, who is a NH resident. Jim is a graduate of Hamilton College as Studio Art Major with Concentration in Sculpture. Jim has been involved in the Nashua Symposium since 2014 and was Artistic Director with John Weidman in 2019.

In 2020 the sculptors will work together to design one place-based space for all three sculptures. The space and sculptures will invite the public to interact with the sculptures, to welcome people of all ages to relax and enjoy. Our goal is to create a place that brings people together in ways that respect social distancing and embrace our need for each other. The 2020 Symposium theme ‘A Place in Time’ embraces that change.

The public is encouraged to sign up to supply lunch or dinner for the sculptors during their three-week stay. A list of participating restaurants will be available to choose from so that meals can be cooked and packaged in approved kitchens. Details will be forthcoming.

As in past years, the sculptors will work outside. The public is welcome with masks and social distancing to visit the sculptors at the Picker Artists Studios at 3 Pine Street as they work Monday through Saturday, 10:00am to 4pm from Monday August 24th through Friday September 4th. The sculptors will work at the final site from Saturday September 5th to the Closing on September 12th. The Symposium culminates with the Closing on Saturday, September 12th. Details will be available as the Symposium gets closer.

The Nashua International Sculpture Symposium is funded by grants, sculpture sponsorships and fundraising events. It is supported in part by grants from the Nashua Arts Commission; from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts; and from Freedom’s Way Heritage Association and the National Park Service. Nashua is the only city in the United States with an annual international sculpture symposium.

During this pandemic, your contributions are more important than ever. For additional information,including supplying a lunch or dinner to the sculptors as they work, donation opportunities, and sculpture sponsorships, visit the Sculpture Symposium Website or email Nashua.sculpture@gmail.com.

Nashua is the only city in the US that has an annual international sculpture symposium. Each year since 2008 international sculptors come to Nashua for three weeks in May to create public art. Truly a community project, residents host the artists in their homes, bring meals as they work, provide transportation, and interact with the artists as they create. Currently over 20 sculptures are installed throughout the City for the public to see and touch.