Alma artist selected as part of elite "Cranes On Parade" design team

ALMA, NE Celebrating the annual migration of the Sandhill Cranes to the area, the Kearney Dawn Rotary is facilitating the Cranes On Parade event, a mimic of Cows on Parade in Chicago and New York City.

“This is quite an ambitious project for Kearney to do,” said Jan Smolik, who was commissioned to design one of the cranes to be displayed.

She received an invitation by way of Linda Shaw, who owns L. Shaw Gallery, to submit three design ideas to the crane committee.

Smolik came up with three themed prototypes. "Take Five" (music), "Crane-Ology" (technology), and "Cosmic-Crane" (a Peter Max theme, a 1960's artist).

One of the first 15 selections, the committee chose her musical entry entitled “Take Five”. A jazz enthusiast, Smolik enjoys the music of Dave Brubeck who recorded the song “Take Five” in the 1960’s.

“I tried to stick with jazz instruments that might have been played in that piece,” said Smolik. “The background is an expression of a city-scape at night to go along with the jazz instruments.”

The backdrop is illuminated in an iridescent blue which captures the silver and gold highlights of the musical design.

Smolik invested approximately 30 evening hours total in the project, and has had several teachable moments for her students as the crane progressed.

“I brought it to school and worked on it here so the kids could see the sculpture develop,” she said of her art students at Alma Public Schools.

She was amazed at the kids’ anxiousness about her completing the crane in time.

“It is the type of project that will never be…done,” she said, commenting she got a small taste of how it might have felt working on the Sistine Chapel. “I understood why it took Michelangelo 24 years to complete it.”

Smolik’s masterpiece was chosen and fully sponsored by one of the event’s organizers, Dave Keiter and his wife Diane, owners of Yellow Van Cleaning Services.

The sponsorship amounts ranged from a one-fourth sponsorship at $550 to a Platinum sponsorship at $3,300 which also included a Cranes on Parade jacket and a scaled down, limited edition bronze reproduction of the crane sculpture by Martha Pettigrew.

Pettigrew, who designed the 6-foot crane sculpture, is a nationally renowned artist. She graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1972 with a Fine Arts degree. A Lincoln native, she has been a professional sculptor since 1991.

Once Pettigrew was finished, the cranes were mass replicated by Prewitt Fiberglass and distributed among local, regional and national artists to apply their submitted designs.

The finished cranes will be displayed at Rowe Sanctuary on Feb. 28. They will then be auctioned off in October of 2003 to various art collectors.

Smolik receives only a fraction of the proceeds from the auction with the majority of the money being donated to Law Enforcement, Emergency Services, the Museum of Nebraska Art (MONA) and other community charities and organizations including Rotary projects and scholarships.

To get a sneak peek at the wide array of cranes, visit the Kearney Chamber of Commerce’s web page or go to www.cranesonparade.com.