Beginning in 2011, the Northfield Arts & Culture Commission and the Northfield Public Schools began to collaborate with the goal of increasing visibility and value for the arts through the addition of public sculpture to the community. The Northfield Public Schools and the Arts and Culture Commission have received an Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund grant through the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC) for a high school public sculpture program called the Young Sculptors’ Project (YSP).

The Young Sculptors’ Project (YSP) is made up of a team of artists including 15 interested high school student artists, an established Minnesota sculptor, and a college art apprentice. The artists and students meet to work weekly on the Young Sculptors’ Project sculpture in the Art Department and Industrial Tech Department at Northfield High School from September until May. The sculpture is then installed by the City of Northfield on a base in front of the Northfield Public Library. The artwork is displayed for two years in the downtown streetscape and then moved to a courtyard sculpture garden at Northfield High School near the previous SEMAC-sponsored YSP sculptures.

This project offers interested visual art and industrial technology students the opportunity to create, learn and grow alongside professional and emerging artists while building a large scale public sculpture using mainly metals for construction. This artistic medium is challenging and one of the most difficult art forms to create, especially in a group collaborative setting. The installation of this biennial sculpture is becoming an anticipated event for community members, young and old.

The sculpture is made of welded steel rod and poured aluminum.

Foundry artist, Sara Hanson and apprentice William Lanzillo guided the process with a group of high school students.

Northfield High School students involved in the project:

Carson Bechtel
Delia Benson
Ana George
Jesse Jacobson
Madeline McDermott
Svea Morrell
Leaf Pennock
Mary Rizzo
Marta Sorenson
Izzy Sutlief
Carl Welbaum
Students who graduated in the pandemic year 2020, who contributed to the process before it took a 365 day hiatus (due to the COVID-19) from March 2020 to March 2021:

Mason Fields
Marcus Hauck
Ashley Horton
Abram Noble
Audrey Pagel
Clara Peterson
Nelly Vega