‘The Star Dream’; Royal Oak, Michigan

Photo: Civic Arts Project

This bronze sculpture was the original concept for the ‘Cleveland War Memorial’ and was finally realized within this Royal Oak plaza.

Key Details:

The sculpture was originally conceived in 1947 as one of the original concepts for a commission in Cleveland which eventually became ‘The Fountain of Eternal Life’.  This sculpture has two bronze  nude figures, one male and one female, standing above a shiny star-like metal fountain.  The work symbolizes man’s continual search for peace.

This sculpture was one of Fredericks’ last public works and was installed just one year before his death in 1998.  His permanent home was just to the Northwest in Birmingham.  He was faculty at the Cranbrook Academy of Art a bit past Birmingham on Woodward Avenue in Bloomfield Hill, Michigan.

If You Go:

Royal Oak has a wonderful Main Street commercial corridor with a number of vibrant restaurants, retail shops and great mixed-use buildings.  The sculpture is located in a plaza just east of Main Street between the police station and public library.

Sources:

http://www.trimpesculpture.com/press/CivicArt.htm

http://omeka.svsu.edu/items/show/3275

This work by Matt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.