When visitors come to the new Interactive Resource Center building at 407 E. Washington Street next year they’ll be greeted by an impressive welded aluminum sculpture mounted on the exterior entry wall. The brainchild of Greensboro artist John Martin, the sculpture will be designed, created and constructed by clients of the IRC who are experiencing homelessness.

John, one of the artists who guided the downtown Coffee Cup Collaborative project, asks the simple question, “If it’s public art, shouldn’t it be made by the public?”. To create the sculpture he’ll guide clients of the IRC in carving designs out of sheets of cornstarch foam. The designs will then be cast in aluminum using direct replacement foam casting technology, and the resulting small sculptures will be welded into a single large piece that will be installed on the exterior of the IRC.

In April a description of the project will go up on Pepsi’s charitable funding website. If the IRC sculpture proposal garners enough votes, Pepsi will grant the funds to make it possible. Check back in April to see how your vote can help make this artwork a reality!

The project for the IRC is based on a similar collaborative project John facilitated for the Enrichment Center in Winston-Salem, with the major difference that adult participants will not only create the sculpture’s component parts, but will also learn to weld and assemble the finished piece.

The first phase of the project will begin in September 2010 to coincide with the “One City, One Book” community-wide reading of The Soloist, a non-fiction book about homelessness and the arts. The sculpture will be completed and installed in March 2011.

Here are some photos of John’s sculpture at the Enrichment Center in Winston-Salem.

John Martin's sculpture work at the Enrichment Center in Winston-Salem.

John Martin's sculpture work at the Enrichment Center in Winston-Salem.