Louisville to gather community input on art

A Louisville art installation honoring the Marshall Fire has been postponed to gather input from fire survivors.

The proposed sculpture titled “Community Resilience” was tabled at the Jan. 10 Louisville City Council meeting. During that meeting, Council decided to send the proposal back to the Cultural Council for further consideration and potential options for location of the sculpture.

Cultural Vice Chair Keely Taylor said during the Jan. 10 meeting that the community suffered a collective trauma because of the Marshall Fire and art is a great way to commemorate both the suffering and resilience of the city.

“By placing this sculpture on Main Street, our community as a whole will have an opportunity to engage with this art,” Taylor said.

Erica Schmitt, arts and events program manager, said at the meeting that a call for entry for commissions to commemorate the Marshall Fire was sent out in 2022. The call for entries included that the artwork would be located in historic downtown Louisville. The Cultural Council voted to have the sculpture be displayed outside of City Hall because it is one of the highest traffic areas of the city and high visible and would not need residents and visitors to search for it.

But Louisville City Council directed staff to consider additional options and alternative locations for the art installation. Councilmember Deborah Fahey said that having the installation in an area that was affected by the fire would have a greater emotional impact. Fahey said that the sculpture is more than just an artwork, but also serves as a memorial for the Marshall Fire.

During the Feb. 7 City Council meeting, 2023 Cultural Council Chair Grace Gee said that the artist of the sculpture consulted with fire survivors and the jury who selected the art had multiple fire survivors as well. She also said that the “Community Resilience” sculpture is not meant to be “the official memorial” but just one of them.

City Manager Jeff Durbin said during last month’s meeting that the Cultural Council still has the budget from 2022 that could be carried forward to the 2023 budget, which could allow for two Marshall Fire artworks.

“Staff plans to solicit input from the entire community to determine the best outcome, which is to commemorate the Marshall Fire that began on December 30, 2021. We’ll share an update with Council and the community at a future meeting date,” Louisville City Hall stated in an email.

The Louisville Cultural Council and city staff will work to consider options and locations for the art installation.