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Artwork takes cue from right to fair trial

A Raleigh, N.C., sculptor's design for the Criminal Justice Center has a courtroom theme.

By GRACE CHENG
Published June 7, 2005

LARGO - When faced with the task of designing a sculpture for the Criminal Justice Center, Thomas Sayre took inspiration from the state and national constitutions.

"The right of trial by jury shall be secure to all and remain inviolate," reads a quote on one side of Sayre's new artwork. The quote is from Article 1, Section 22, of the Florida Constitution and expresses the spirit of Sayre's piece.

The artwork consists of 12 earthen vessels on top of square concrete podiums, representing the 12 members of a jury. Ornamental grasses, which have not yet been installed, will be placed in front of the vessels to represent the two opposing counsels. Quotations on the black border on either side of the vessels are from the United States and Florida constitutions.

"America is unique in the extent to which we use a jury," said Sayre. "Well, how to express that? Eventually I came up with the idea of a jury box."

Sayre's sculpture, which took six to nine months to create, is being installed near the entrance of the center. It was commissioned by Pinellas County's Public Art and Design Program at a cost of $90,000.

Sayre, a sculptor based in Raleigh, N.C., where he has his studio and design firm, Clearscapes, was also commissioned as the artist for Stacking Tower , a $50,000 project at Ninth Avenue N and 49th Street in front of a fire station in St. Petersburg. That 24-foot sculpture was completed in early 2003.

Both projects are part of the Public Art and Design Program, which was founded through a county ordinance passed in February 2000 that sets aside up to 1 percent of the cost of capital improvement projects for public artwork.

Mark Flickinger, director of the Public Art and Design program, said the idea for the project was conceived at the time the Judicial Center was being built, in 1989.

"One of the judges ... said he had visited other courthouses that had all this beautiful artwork," said Flickinger. "He wanted to know why didn't we have that."

The program committee advertised the project to the arts community and eventually chose Sayre.

"We felt that (Sayre) had a very good concept that was germane to the Criminal Justice Center," said Phil Graham, a landscape architect who served on the selection committee. "... It was very unusual yet very appropriate."

Sayre will be in town Wednesday to complete the landscaping for the project.

"It looks interesting," said Sharon Morten, an employee at the center. "But I'm waiting to see what it all looks like when it gets finished."

"They look like a bunch of cones to me," said Kevin Stoffel, who was at the courthouse Friday.

Neither Morten nor Stoffel knew what the work represented until they were told.

"I suppose (art) is a very subjective thing," said Alex Klahm, a local artist who was also on the selection committee. "These are always somewhat controversial. Somebody will hate it, and somebody else will think it's absolutely perfect."

[Last modified June 7, 2005, 02:15:48]