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Wednesday, April 09, 2003

By Cooper Munroe

Drivers on Wildwood Road in Hampton were doing some serious rubbernecking last Wednesday and Thursday when enormous abstract sculptures were hoisted into the air by a crane outside Jewart's Gymnastics.

The seven sculptures, ranging in height from 9 feet to 20 feet, were made by artists from around the country and the Netherlands. They arrived last Wednesday from Washington, D.C., and were installed the next day in the wooded area behind the gymnastics school.

The permanent outdoor exhibit, called the Sculpture Garden at Wildwood, was the idea of Randy Jewart, an artist who lives in Austin, Texas, and his mother, Elaine Jewart, owner of Jewart's Gymnastics.

Until last month, the sculptures were part of an exhibition titled "It's Sculpture" in Washington, D.C. The Washington Convention Center, which was home to four of the pieces, closed March 31 and is scheduled to be demolished and rebuilt.

So, the sculptures needed to find new display locations -- and quickly.

"At first I just wanted to store [the sculptures] at the gym until I found them new homes," said Randy Jewart, 33, founder of the exhibit. "But as my mom and I thought about it, we saw the potential of developing a sculpture garden. We started thinking, you know, this could be good for the gym, for the kids who use the gym, for artists, for the North Hills and for Pittsburgh."

They are still in the planning stages of how the garden will be exhibited. It will be available for private tours, Elaine Jewart said, and she plans to invite her 1,000 students at the gymnastics school to visit the sculpture garden.

Randy Jewart and his mother see great potential for the garden. They are hoping local sculptors will want to display their works there and are eager to have international artists visit and display sculpture as well.

"I can see a sort of residency thing where artists from all over come and do site-specific projects," said Randy Jewart, who is on the board of directors of the International Sculpture Center and is getting the word out to his contacts about the sculpture garden.

The garden includes pieces made of bronze, limestone, wood and steel by artists from California, Illinois, Texas, Maryland and Holland. The pieces have been placed among the rope course and the outdoor exercise equipment the school uses for its instructional programs.

One of the largest pieces, a 12-foot-tall, steel and wood, V-shaped structure by sculptor Patrick McDonald of Chicago, is an abstract reference to Native American culture and bears a resemblance to a headdress. Elaine Jewart plans to put a 35-foot-tall tepee in the clearing next to the sculpture.

Randy Jewart's 9-foot-high, limestone and steel sculpture is included in the display.

Elaine Jewart and her husband, Tom, have been interested in large sculpture since Randy first started sculpting six years ago. She believes the sculpture garden is a "genuine fit" with the school and will be an integral part of its programs.

"Our sport is actually called artistic gymnastics," she said. "There is definitely a corollary between artistic gymnastics and art. The children are, in essence, moving sculpture."

For information on visiting the Sculpture Garden at Wildwood or to arrange a tour, call Jewart's Gymnastics at 412-487-5999.

Cooper Munroe is a freelance writer.