WHO:  The 14th Nashua International Sculpture Symposium, with three artists this year from around the U.S., who, for the last few weeks, have each been creating a sculpture outdoors in view of visitors; the three sculptures will be placed together in one location to be viewed with the public on Sat., June 12, 2021. The 2021 artists are: Nora Valdez, of Argentina and Cambridge, Mass., Sam Finkelstein of Rockland, Maine, and Gavin Kenyon of Jersey City, N.J., with help from artistic director Jim Larson of Contoocook, N.H., and intern Kaitlyn Peters of Londonderry, N.H.

WHAT:  “Introspection,” the 14th Annual International Sculpture Symposium

WHERE:  Locations:

The Picker Artists Studios, 3 Pine St., Nashua, N.H. which is the studio/worksite,

14 Court Street, Nashua, N.H.  for the opening ceremony,

6 Church Street, Nashua, N.H. for the closing ceremony and the permanent site of the three new sculptures

WHEN: May 20, 2021 - June 12, 2021, with work times of 10-4 Monday through Saturday from May 24-June 8, 2021 at the studio/worksite.

The opening ceremony is Thurs., May 20, 2021 at 5:30 p.m., and the closing ceremony is on Sat., June 12, 2021 at 1 p.m., both to be streamed on Access Nashua Community Television, Channel 96 and viewable following the event, with time(s) to be announced, and the programming to be rebroadcast several times during the duration of the Symposium. It will also be available on NISS’s Facebook page and the NISS YouTube channel.

An artists talk during the first week of the Symposium and special activities for children, both to be held outdoors, are being planned, with more information to follow on exact dates and times.

Ongoing now through the end of May, NISS is holding its "1,000 Cranes for Nashua" project. NISS intends to have 1,000 paper cranes made which will be on display at St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua. To participate, come to the Picker Artists studios to pick up prepared kits, return completed cranes there. Details of how to participate are on the NISS website and social media (all listed below) including a fun video on folding cranes.  

The closing ceremony is open to the public and to be held on Sat., June 12, 2021 at 1 p.m. The artists will discuss their work and experiences alongside their finished pieces in the site where they will be on permanent display. People are invited to come up close, examine the pieces and speak with the artists.

The “Introspection” Theme:

The theme for this year’s Symposium came from the fact that the artists, like so many other people, have had to largely be isolated from others during the pandemic. Artists, even if they do work alone, usually have a chance to show and exhibit their work and converse with others but not during the pandemic. Indeed, the Symposium has brought people out and back together to interact. The artists have been working near one another in the outdoor studio space the last few weeks and have been able to confer together and look at one others’ work, eat together, experience the weather conditions, play their music loud and proud. People have been regularly visiting with them and talking with them about their work. Sculptor Sam Finkelstein said of his experience so far with the project, "I'm a big proponent of no-barrier access to art, so it's exciting to know my sculpture will live out in Nashua. There's been a strong dynamism working amongst other talented sculptors, and the hot days set the tone for high-intensity creative energy."

For some of the artists, this was a new experience of working on a piece of art outside and in public, as though they are on a stage, which the studio setting resembles; in addition to the new experience for some of the artists of developing a large scale piece of sculpture to be displayed in public. They also have had access to tools they do not normally have. There has been a lot of interest from the public coming to watch the artists at work, take photos and speak with the artists daily. Volunteers on hand daily from NISS talk with visitors and show them around the outdoor studio space.

With this theme, the Symposium this year has been contextualizing the thought processes of the artists from the past year with that isolated condition and then presenting their work with that context to the public for the first time in over a year. Artistic Director Jim Larson said, “These are almost necessarily ideas of introspection that came about while working alone during the past year. The symposium is a chance for these three artists to take these ideas and reframe them within the public realm.”

Meanwhile, the sculptors are in a final sprint to get their work finished so it can be put in place for the Saturday closing ceremony. “The sculptors are finishing their work at 3 Pine Street this week and will be installing their pieces at 6 Church St., in time for the closing on Saturday… they are working like crazy,” said NISS president Gail Moriarty. The NISS board and their volunteers are also assisting them any way they can.

Even the tools may be different for some of the artists for this project. In fact, Larson and at least one of the artists will be building a diamond wire saw to use during the Symposium. He explained that the braided steel cable will be beaded with diamond beads and will be able to cut stone in the same way a bandsaw cuts wood. This is usually a very expensive machine. The diamond wire saw itself is just another tool, but what it does and says about public art is what is so significant. “A machine like this is usually inaccessible to the humble artist. To have this available to the artists allows them to speak with a wider vocabulary of action, and to make more efficient use of their time, energy and enthusiasm. Ultimately, they can make work that more easily follows their intuition and intention,” Larson said.

He is grateful to donors for providing the means to build this machine. Larson noted, “The generosity of our donors says, ‘I think this is worth my time, investment, and my money towards my community.’  With their support they say, public art is worth it.”

And, he added, “Through the ongoing and innovative practice of working stone, the Symposium preserves and builds upon the living history of stonework in New Hampshire.”

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.

Photos by Allegra Boverman

Gavin Kenyon, born  in 1980 in Binghamton, N.Y., lives and works in New York. He is  represented by Galleria Zero,  in Milan.  Mass, tension, balance, membranes, surface quality and color. Working at the limits of materials with an attention to how matter behaves under stress. Finding equilibrium in failure. The abject position. These strategies and elements are used in Kenyon’s sculptures to speak of the frailty of bodies, loss, isolation and psychological repression on one hand as well as connection, care and the tenacity of life on the other.

Nora Valdez is originally from Argentina, now based in Boston, Mass. She has lived in, created and exhibited her work in Argentina, Italy and in Spain before moving to Boston in 1986. Her work has been exhibited and installed in permanent public spaces all over the world, from Europe to Asia, around North and South America,  and in the U.S. She uses sculpture and installations to create images that reflect on the nature of change. Most recently, her work has focused on the nature of home and the immigrant experience. Her thematic concerns are also reflected in her involvement with the community.

Sam Finkelstein is based in Rockland, Maine and was born in New York City. His work centers on the human body as the link between the psychic states of ever-accelerating metropolitan centers and those of more time-expansive pastoral landscapes. This exploration manifests in sculpted stone, poetry, drawings, and music. Finkelstein is interested in his work primarily registering on a nonverbal level – something rooted in a primordial, energetic collective knowledge that we share with plants, trees, fellow animals, and the heavenly bodies of the cosmos.

"I'm a big proponent of no-barrier access to art, so it's exciting to know my sculpture will live out in Nashua. There's been a strong dynamism working amongst other talented sculptors, and the hot days set the tone for high-intensity creative energy."

Jim Larson, Artistic Director, Nashua International Sculpture Symposium, born in 1994, and a New Hampshire native from Contoocook, is an interdisciplinary artist.  His work seeks to explore and expand methods of art creation and presentation. With a background in New Hampshire's tradition of craft, his work synthesizes the handmade/the real with our contemporary digital cultural practice.  Larson's work objectifies our daily digital-to-physical, physical-to-digital translations, and he works to present a more broadly accessible version of art exhibition. Alongside his artistic practice, Larson regularly organizes public showings of artwork to provide exposure for young artists within their local communities.  These shows attempt to present work outside the influence of for-profit initiatives, and correspondingly they contain work that likely would not be shown in a for-profit setting. This is his third year as Artistic Director of NISS.

Kaitlyn Peters. Intern, Londonderry NH.

Since 2008, The Nashua International Sculpture Symposium has presented an annual multiweek spring sculpture-making event in the city of Nashua, N.H. Artists are invited from around the world to take part. They spend three weeks in Nashua creating public art that now, after 14 years, join several dozen unique pieces placed throughout the city in public and outdoor places and spaces for everyone to enjoy.

Residents also can get involved in the symposium by volunteering to host the artists, helping to provide meals and transportation, and spending time with the artists as they work. The artists learn how to create large-scale sculpture pieces, and they, while making their art and interacting with visitors and the public, educate them about their own artmaking techniques, their cultures and their backgrounds.

Nashua is the only city in the U.S. to host such a symposium that brings appreciation and awareness to the value and benefit of free, public art. Nashua is committed to such publicly accessible art and the city is becoming known for not only these compelling sculptures, but for other kinds of public art as well, including many kinds of murals. The idea of the Symposium was inspired by Meri Goyette, now 95, and a major patron of the arts and culture in Nashua, and John Weidman, director of the Andres Institute of Art in Brookline, N.H. 

Sculptors are selected to participate in the Symposium for their ability to positively contribute to the artistic and cultural development of Nashua  with the goal to improve the quality of life throughout the city for residents and visitors.

Because of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, NISS has switched gears and has been working with artists from around North America. The sculptors will work outdoors Mondays through Saturdays from 10-4 at The Picker Artists Studios, 3 Pine Street, Nashua. 

The public is invited to participate by bringing a meal, by volunteering at the site, or simply by coming by to watch them work and keep them company as they work between May 24 and June 8, 2021. When visiting, it is important to stay back from the artists, not only because of the machinery and tools in use, along with the dust and particles from the stonecutting, but to continue to comply with pandemic protocols, including wearing masks and practicing physical distancing as needed.

Currently over 20 sculptures are installed throughout the City for the public to see and touch.

For more information and to see a comprehensive images and locations of all past sculptures,  information on sponsoring a sculpture, how to help provide meals and more:

NISS: http://www.NashuaSculptureSymposium.org

Access Nashua Community Television/Channel 96: http://www.accessnashua.org for viewing schedule and streaming

For sale during the Symposium:

• Limited edition 14th Anniversary “Introspection” t-shirts

• “Art Lives” cotton tote bags in two styles

See the NISS website and social media for information on ordering.

Proceeds help the Symposium obtain needed materials and tools, and aid its plans to expand artmaking opportunities for children of all ages throughout the year.