Toppled sculpture to return to South Bend yard

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - When Roman Sysyn placed a 5-foot, 1,300-pound steel sculpture in the front yard of his Riverside Drive home in 1982, some of his neighbors were less than pleased.

"They called it a monstrosity," said Sysyn, who sculpted the piece from 1979 to 1982 as a graduate student at the University of Notre Dame.

But in the 33 years since Sysyn put the sculpture up in his yard at 1067 Riverside Drive, it has become something of a landmark for drivers passing along the winding, tree-lined road that runs along the St. Joseph River.

Now, neighbors and others from the Riverside Drive Historic District have urged the 75-year-old South Bend resident to put the sculpture of an anguished, kneeling man back up after it toppled while Sysyn was cleaning it recently.

"When it fell, I questioned the value of putting it up," Sysyn said.

A friend and several neighbors approached him and expressed their appreciation for the sculpture, though, and Sysyn decided to have it repaired and returned to his yard.

The sculpture will be taken for repair on Thursday, with the goal of returning it to Sysyn's yard by Friday, he said.

"It's part of the community now," Sysyn said.

Ed Talley, a neighbor, agreed, calling the sculpture "part of the fabric" of the neighborhood.

"I think the neighborhood is very interested in preserving it," Talley said. "People give directions by it. I give directions by it."

Seconding that notion was Mark Beudert, another neighbor, who said "something is missing" since the sculpture fell. "And we want that poor guy back."

On the day it fell, Sysyn had been behind the sculpture removing rust residue for about an hour before moving to its front side, he said.

"I put my two fingers on it, testing how it was, and it just fell back," Sysyn said. "If I had been back there, I probably would have been dead."

Sysyn, who was born in Ukraine, said the sculpture was inspired by his and his family's experience during World War II. They moved throughout Europe during the war and ended up in an Allied-controlled area of Germany when the war ended.

Sysyn and his family immigrated to the United States in 1949.

"It (the sculpture) has a certain amount of anguish. That was a part of my family's war experience," Sysyn said. "The sculpture reflects that."

Neighbors' affinity for the sculpture was often displayed by the sandwiches left in its hand or scarves placed around its neck, said Sysyn, who taught art in the South Bend Community School Corp.

"But it has never been vandalized," he added.

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Source: South Bend Tribune, http://bit.ly/1MJGFYK

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Information from: South Bend Tribune, http://www.southbendtribune.com