TheBurg

10.20 | THEBURGNEWS.COM | 27 e company averages 200 to 500 projects each year and has shipped castings around the world—to clients in Germany, England, France, Puerto Rico and many other locations. e Commonwealth Monument, set at 4th and Walnut streets in Harrisburg, was forged in bronze and sculpted as five elements, Ault said. e project's initial casting was its 4½-foot base, the "Orator's Pedestal," featuring 100 names of families from the city's Old 8th Ward on its sides, along with homages to businesses and churches that once served as community mainstays. Topping the pedestal is a relief map of the historic neighborhood that was demolished to make way for the Capitol complex through eminent domain. On Nov. 14, two historic castings, also by ART Research Enterprises, will join two other figures created by the firm that now surround the pedestal. Cast figures include William Howard Day, an educational reformer and civil rights pioneer; Frances Harper, poet, abolitionist and suffragette; Jacob T. Compton, a sergeant in Company D of the 24th U.S. Colored Infantry and local musician; and T. Morris Chester, Civil War correspondent and recruiter. All figures related to the project have a Harrisburg connection from the late 1800s, as well as connections either to the 15th Amendment, which granted African American men the right to vote, and/or to the 19th amendment, which guaranteed American women the right to vote. e overall work was created as part of the IIPT Harrisburg Peace Promenade. "e key factors to anything we do is that we try to envision what you feel it should be," Cunningham said. "My favorite part about doing this sort of work is the creative aspect. It's a field that's constantly changing." Lenwood Sloan, the project's executive director, said that a state search committee selected ART Research Enterprises for the project from a field of 20 candidates. Nominees were invited to apply for the project by the PA Department of General Services, which sought recommendations from "various government agencies" that had commissioned the firms for similar projects, Sloan said. "ey came as highly recommended and were highly engaged during their presentation to us," he said. Additionally, the search committee was seeking "a woman-owned business" for the project that, in part, acknowledges the passage of women's right to vote. ART Research Enterprises stands as the only foundry arts partnership in the mid-Atlantic region headed by a woman, Sloan said. e company also brought plenty of experience to the project. In all, they've completed 20 to 30 monuments across the commonwealth, Sloan said, including castings of Pennsylvania state troopers, the Reading Police Memorial and the Cumberland County Memorial. "We were all just so impressed by ART Research Enterprises and their willingness to collaborate with the community," Sloan said. ART Research Enterprises is located at 3050 Industry Dr., Lancaster. For more information, visit www.thinksculpture.com. Milton Hershey Spartan Warrior Commonwealth Monument Project Pedestal detail of the Commonwealth Monument Project.

• Cover