Metal artist’s ‘Fiddler in the Field’ stands out in St. Charles sculpture park

Who knew that a piece of metal has a mind of its own, sending messages about what it wants to become in a “new life”?

Paul Bobrowitz of Colgate, Wisconsin, knows this to be true. Or, at the very least, it helps him in his sculpting work with fabricated metal objects and pieces he just finds.

The result, in this case, earned his “Fiddler in the Field” piece at the Sculpture in the Park gallery in St. Charles’ Mount St. Mary Park, a shoutout as my favorite so far this year.

For the past several years, I have shared with readers which sculpture in this annual, and now year-round, display really catches my eye.

There’s something about the size and color scheme of this piece, essentially showing a man playing a fiddle out in a field, that makes it stand out.

“Fiddler in the Field” isn’t the work of a newcomer to Sculpture in the Park. Bobrowitz has had pieces in the gallery several times over the past 20 years, since the park district started it in 2006.

“But I stopped for quite a few years,” Bobrowitz said. “It was becoming inconvenient and not economical for the artist to come in the spring with the sculpture and then come back to pick it up.”

The park district eliminated such a scenario two years ago by keeping the sculptures in place year-round, giving the pieces more time to lure potential buyers or be acquired by the park district.

“Whoever was on the (Sculpture in the Park) committee initially was adamant that no one uses the park in the winter,” Bobrowitz said. “But I didn’t care if my piece sat in the park or back at my place (during the winter). And I was having a hard time believing that no one was walking in that park in the winter.”

When Bobrowitz refers to “my place,” he is talking about his 6-acre outdoor “Sculpture Spectacular” in an area known as Scenic Holy Hill about 30 minutes northwest of downtown Milwaukee. He’s been creating metal art for more than two decades, with his work on display throughout the United States.

He can’t say for sure how long it took him to create “Fiddler in the Field,” which came about because he was thinking about the Tevye the Dairyman character from “Fiddler on the Roof” when he first started working on it.

He has created many pieces that include musical instruments but admits he “can’t play a note.” Still, he likes music and the “Fiddler on the Roof” idea popped in his head and stuck.

“And the farmer standing out in his field was just a combination of my weird sense of humor, and because I thought it was a cool title for the piece,” Bobrowitz added.

“It can be months or years before I fully finish a piece,” he said. “I may be out by my sculptures weeding, and I will see a piece and think that I could do more with that. I will bring it back in (to his work area) and change it.”

If his work carries any sort of central theme, he believes it would be about “relationships between people and nature.”

But the piece of metal has to agree.

“The overwhelming theme of my work is that it becomes whatever the piece of metal is calling out that it wants to be,” he noted.

In this case, the metal told him it wanted to be one of the coolest sculptures on the Mount St. Mary property this year.

Many years of hope

Grief support organization Fox Valley Hands of Hope celebrates its 45th year with an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 7, at the non-profit’s Grief Hope Center in Geneva.

The nonprofit organization changed its course three years ago, focusing on grief counseling as opposed to its former mission of end-of-life care.

Part of that change was a remodeling of its building at 200 Whitfield Drive.

At that time, Jonathan Shively, executive director of FVHH, told me about the new mission of the organization.

“The philosophy here is that when people are grieving and suffering a loss, we want to remove every barrier we can to them when seeking help,” he said. “We are emotionally centered on life issues, because it takes a lot of courage to seek out that support.”

FVHH was able to keep its no-cost model for clients, as it relies on community support from individual donors, grants, private foundations and the local communities’ 708 Mental Health Boards. It has also had important support from Wheaton Franciscans.

Corron’s farm commitment

Tom Corron was a Bears fan, like so many of us, and it is a trait of this New Haven, Indiana, resident that many people will remember. After all, that was something he brought with him to Indiana after growing up in St. Charles and graduating from St. Charles High School in 1973.

But those who knew him well know that his real calling was preserving his family’s legacy through its historic farm property on Corron Road in Wasco. His family lived not far the Corron Farm, where his cousins lived and worked.

Corron passed away in February at age 70, and those who worked with him closely on the Corron Farm Preservation Society, along with family and friends, will celebrate his life from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 13, at the Corron Farm, 7N761 Corron Road.

He may not have been in Campton Township all of the time, but his heart and mind were surely there. I received many press releases and notices from him about events or fundraisers taking place at the farm.

A life celebration begins at 11:30 a.m. at what is called the Big Tool Shed on the property, followed by a tree planting and then procession to nearby Whitney Cemetery.

All in attendance are invited to return to the Big Tool Shed after the graveside service for what took place often at the Corron Farm over years — food and friendship.

A deserving Turtle

As part of its mission to enhance the Fox River setting in St. Charles, the River Corridor Foundation of St. Charles annually provides the Golden Turtle Award to individuals or organizations that support that concept.

It makes sense that this year’s turtle award goes to the Forest Preserve District of Kane County’s Environmental Education Department.

That department has numerous programs that engage citizens in river cleanup or learning more about the Fox River environment.

River Corridor Foundation leaders will present the award to the county forest preserve board at the preserve’s 9 a.m. meeting Tuesday, June 9, at the Kane County Government Center.

Helping Riverwoods camp

Playing in a golf outing this week to benefit Fox Valley Christian Action and its summer camp in St. Charles reminded me what an outstanding job this organization has done for underprivileged youths.

Since its operation began in 1977, many individuals and organizations have become familiar with FVCA’s Riverwoods Christian Center, 80-plus acres along the Fox River that have provided hope and joy, as well as Christian teachings, to literally tens of thousands of young people.

For years, my service club was engaged in the summer camp at Riverwoods through donations, but mostly when Gene Liesman and Larry Ward, who operated a popcorn store, would bring popcorn and cotton candy machines to the campsite to treat the kids.

It was a favorite day for the kids, from impoverished families in the Fox Valley.

My past tours of the overnight campground, located on Riverwoods Lane, always impressed me in terms of the facilities and programs for young people.

Did you know?

When considering the number of businesses that have fared well along the Fox River over the past two centuries, none stands out more than the business of providing energy.

Batavians know, or should know, this story well. Their city is called the “Windmill City.”

True to that history, logos portraying Batavia display a windmill and, of course, there are various windmills perched throughout town.

It stems from the operation of various mill companies in Batavia in the late 1860s, a few of them eventually combining to become the Challenge Mill Company in 1867.

The timing was great in the years just after the Civil War just to be making windmills. The Western plains were targeted for growth and expansion, and a device like a windmill, for use as a pumping device, was in much demand.

With Batavia on the western edge of the Chicago area, it was a good spot to manufacture windmills and feed to move to all points west. By 1872, the Challenge Windmill and Feed Mill Company was known around the world.

That same year, however, the factory, at Lathem and River streets, was destroyed by a fire that also destroyed Batavia Mills. It was rebuilt by owner Nelson Burr.

A book titled “Historic Batavia” by author John Gustafson noted that by 1881 the windmill business coming out of Batavia was the largest of its kind in the world.

“You can hardly ride 10 miles in any direction in the Mississippi Valley without seeing one of Batavia’s mills,” Gustafson wrote.

The Challenge Mill Company prided itself on quality, showing off its mills at the 1893 World’s Fair and representing a wider variety of mill types than was available in all of Europe.

Batavia Historical Society documents provide testimony that one of the most popular mills was the Challenge Sectional Wheel, which included a wooden sectional wheel with a rigid vane, keeping it facing toward the wind at all times.

• dheun@sbcglobal.net