Courtesy photo Gavin Kenyon, a resident of upstate New York, is one of this year's featured sculptors for the Nashua International Sculpture Symposium. (Courtesy photo)

NASHUA – The pandemic that followed the surge of the COVID-19 virus last year finally seems to be loosening its grip – like it somehow knew that the warmer weather would bring with it the popular spring and summertime pursuits that were so longed-for by so many over the past year.

In these parts, tops among those pursuits is the Nashua International Sculpture Symposium, the annual celebration-of-the-arts event that brings noted sculptors from around the world to Nashua for a couple of weeks of sculpting, socializing and sharing stories with local folks who can drop by and watch them in action.

Just days remain now until the 14th annual edition of the Nashua International Sculpture Symposium gets underway – with, happily, just a small handful of lingering pandemic restrictions.

One of those restrictions involves the opening ceremony, which will be a much smaller event than those of the pre-pandemic era – but it will be recorded by the Access Nashua TV folks and shown, possibly with interviews with the sculptors included, later the evening of Thursday, May 20.

The ceremony will take place, rain or shine, at 5:30 that evening in the courtyard between the 14 Court Street Theater and the Nashua Public Library.

Nora Valdez, a resident of Boston who was born and raised in Argentina, is one of the featured sculptors at this year's Nashua International Sculpture Symposium. (Courtesy photo)

The plan is, according to NISS president Gail Moriarty, to have the recording available for viewing on Facebook and the NISS’s YouTube channel within a few hours.

Likewise, Access Nashua will also record the closing ceremony, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 12, and promptly post it for viewing.

Regarding the opening ceremony, Moriarty said the number of in-person attendees will be limited, but there’s also some flexibility.

“We’re not saying that if someone is walking by and sees the ceremony going on they won’t be able to stop and watch,” she said. “It’s just that we don’t want a large group of people standing or sitting close together.”

Over the following weekend, the sculptors will be preparing the space where they will be creating their sculptures. They will set up their temporary, outdoor “studios” alongside The Picker Artists building, the long, brick building at 3 Pine St.

Sam Finkelstein, a former New York resident now living in Rockland, Maine, is one of the featured sculptors at this year's Nashua International Sculpture Symposium. (Courtesy photo)

This year’s guest sculptors are Gavin Kenyon, of New York; Nora Valdez, a native of Argentina now living in Boston; and Sam Finkelstein, a New York City native now living and working in Rockland, Maine.

Brief biographies of each sculptor appear in a separate information box.

Beginning Monday, May 24, the public is invited to stop by and watch the sculptors at work. They are sometimes available to chat and ask questions, such as during their breaks.

Visitors should use caution when power tools are in use, and be mindful of the dust and particles that may result from the stonecutting process.

While the sculptors are scheduled to be at work from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays through Tuesday, June 8. But, according to Moriarty, those hours are flexible, and if someone passing by before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m. sees one or more of the sculptors working, they are welcome to stop and watch.

Meanwhile, a children’s origami project called “1,000 Cranes for Nashua: Puppets, Prizes and Positivity,” which debuted in April as a predecessor to the symposium, has so far produced about 500 paper cranes – roughly half the total needed to reach its goal.

The project is the brainchild of Nashua artist and NISS board member Kate Pritchard, who said her idea was inspired by the Japanese tradition based on the belief that folding 1,000 origami cranes brings good health, good fortune and longevity.

What could be more appropriate, Pritchard said, at a time when Greater Nashuans and society in general are finally making significant progress toward restoring their pre-pandemic health.

Moriarty said children interested in making cranes for the project can pick up an origami instructional packet at the studios of The Picker Artists.

Once the origami cranes are all assembled, they will be displayed in the atrium at St. Joseph Hospital, Moriarty said.

Historically, the symposium is rooted in a series of conversations by local civic and arts community supporters, chiefly Meri Goyette, an avid supporter and benefactor of the local arts community, and John Weidman, then-director of the Andres Institute of Art in Brookline.

The inaugural symposium took place in 2008, its purpose to “elevate the awareness and appreciation of public art in Nashua.”

For more information on times, dates, logistics and other details about the upcoming symposium, and additional information on this year’s and previous guest sculptors, go to http://nashuasculpturesymposium.org.

—

IF YOU GO

The 14th annual Nashua International Sculpture Symposium, titled “Introspection,” will open in May and run through early June.

The opening reception is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 20, on the courtyard between the 14 Court Street Theater and the Nashua Public Library, with a limited number of attendees. The closing ceremonies will take place at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 12 also at the courtyard.

From May 24 through June 4, visitors may stop by the studios of The Picker Artists, 3 Pine St., from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday to watch the sculptors work. The hours are somewhat flexible. All visitors must wear face masks and observe social distancing guidelines.

For more information, go to http://nashuasculpturesymposium.org.

—

ABOUT THE SCULPTORS

Artists from Argentina – by way of Boston – and New York and Rockland, Maine will soon be adding their names to the list of more than three dozen sculptors who have come to Nashua over the course of the Nashua International Sculpture Symposium to contribute works of art.

This year’s three featured sculptors include:

• Nora Valdez, from Argentina, now living in Boston

Born and raised in Argentina, Valdez earned the title of professor of Fine Arts in 1982, and began showing her work throughout Argentina, winning prizes and critical acclaim. She would move to Brazil, and later, to Europe, where she worked in Italy, then moved to Zaragoza, Spain, where she started working in marble. She has shown her work at the Fuller Museum of Art, the DeCordova museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, among several other venues in Massachusetts.

When she returned to Boston in 2004, she was invited to carve at the Andres Institute of Art in Brookline – the studio operated by sculptor John Weidman that was central to the founding of the Nashua International Sculpture Symposium several years later.

For more on Valdez’s history and career, go to www.noravaldez.com.

• Samuel Finkelstein, Rockland, Maine

A 2014 graduate of Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, where he majored in art with a concentration in painting, Finkelstein moved to New York City to work in the David Zwirner Gallery as an art handler. During that time, he created his own art, eventually moving into a studio. He fell in love with Maine while vacationing there, and moved to Rockland, where he founded Babyman Studio and turned his focus to sculpting.

• Gavin Kenyon, New York

Gavin Kenyon is a graduate of The School of Visual Arts in New York City and Syracuse University. Since 2002 he has shown his work in numerous exhibits throughout the eastern United States.

His work centers on sculpture, in abstract works possessing a biomorphic quality. Drawing inspiration from the area he grew up in, the forests of Upstate New York, Kenyonís bulbous sculptural forms in cement, wool, and other organic materials are rooted in George Batailleís concept of Informe (1929).

—

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

Newsletter