NEW HANOVER COUNTY — Design, fabrication and installation can move forward for an out-of-this-world display to be featured at a new library in northern Wilmington.
The Northchase Library — a $13-million project — is set to be completed by fall. As part of the project, New Hanover County Commissioners approved Monday the public art that will be installed to welcome visitors.
“The Sky’s the Limit” was designed by Wynn Earl Buzzell — a local who has been making professional art nationwide for 11 years. He created a salamander-like creature for Denver’s Meow Wolf, an immersive art collective with complexes in Texas, Las Vegas and Santa Fe. The business highlights art and music in an alternative setting and welcomes visitors to walk through thematic worlds, often enveloping all five senses, created by artists worldwide.
“I have had the opportunity to work on projects all over the country, but this is my first time doing something in my hometown,” Buzzell said.
The Northchase Library display was approved to cost no more than $83,000, 1% allocated from the project funding overall.
Buzzell was one of 15 bids that came into the county last fall. A Public Art Committee convened to choose the artist and was impressed by his vision.
He told commissioners Monday he began thinking about books that inspired him as a child, particularly the “Our Universe Picture Atlas from National Geographic.” He remembers looking over illustrations done by Michael Whalen of imagined creatures throughout the universe that perhaps would live on other planets, such as “jelly blimps” floating through Jupiter’s clouds or “brinker-roos of Europa.”
“I must have looked at these images a thousand times as a kid and they really had an effect on me, not only as a child but later in life as a designer,” Buzzell said.
This was the basis of Buzzell creating his own fantasy world and a character central to it, but to do so he asked: “What is Wilmington to you?”
Having grown up in Fayetteville before moving to the Port City, the artist recalled trips as a middle-schooler involving visits to the Fort Fisher Civil War Site and the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher.
“The Live Oaks of Fort Fisher always struck me the most,” he said, noting their bendy, twisty branches and roots that look like trees from a different world.
He also went deep sea fishing with his dad in Carolina Beach and recalled being mesmerized by schools of flying fish.
This led him to create the story of the Flying Fort Fisher Fish. He explained to commissioners, the fish lived in the depths of darkness at the bottom of the ocean floor and was lonely, often wondering what life was like beyond the ocean waves.
“So it grew legs to walk out of the water,” Buzzell said. “There, it found a whole new world of strange and wonderful things. But the fish’s curiosity was not satisfied; it watched birds fly over the sand and sea and through the clouds and longed to see what they saw. So it tried and tried until it grew wings … to see all the world has to offer.”
He said the story’s main theme is to embrace wonder, understand change is good, perseverance leads to success, and the sky’s the limit when it comes to dreaming big.
“If a fish can walk and fly, there are unlimited possibilities,” he said.
Buzzell imagined the creature being a “gentle giant,” eye-level to humans — with a glossed black eye that illuminates curiosity. In his mind’s eye, the fish lumber in the sand dunes and walk along the beach, splash in the waves “and occasionally catch a breeze to fly into the air.”
Based on the narrative, the artist will install four fish sculptures, featuring wings, scales and legs; a juvenile fish will be constructed at 8 feet, while the adult fish will be more than 11 feet. They’ll be made of stainless steel and aluminum, with light blue, midnight blue and deep purple and grays making up the color palette — some of the coloring will appear iridescent when it hits the light.
The sculptures will be situated in the natural landscape areas of the entry plaza to the library. Also included will be sand-like rippled sculptures that represent dunes but also will double as bench seating for visitors.
“I like this piece very much,” Commissioner Dane Scalise said, noting when he first saw them he thought they were creatures from films like “Dune.” “One thing that’s wonderful about a library is it’s a place to create wonder and captivate your imagination. … This piece helps bring people into that frame of mind before walking into this library.”
Commissioner Stephanie Walker, an admitted sci-fi fan, was drawn to the idea, too: “I’m also a big fan of public art and think we should have more of it.”
Her colleague, Commissioner Rob Zapple, wanted to know if a written narrative would be included to connect people more to the artist’s vision. Buzzell said he had ideas on how to communicate it.
“There is often a placard with public art,” he said, “but I would like to put more thought into how we tell that story.”
“And you’ve clearly thought through some of the details, so what kind of sound would they make?” Zapple followed up, curiously.
WIth a laugh, Buzzell answered: “like a chippering noise.”
“Commissioner, I tried to prep him for every question,” Chief Facilities Officer Sara Warmuth said, also laughing, “but that wasn’t one.”
“I definitely thought of it,” Buzzell added.
Approval for the sculpture passed unanimously.
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