- April 25, 2024
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Since it was completed in 1992, thousands of residents and visitors have spotted the vibrant looped 23-foot sculpture in front of a large home on John Anderson Drive in Ormond-by-the-Sea. After the home sold in early October for $1.1 million, the sculpture was gifted to Ormond Beach MainStreet in the hopes many will continue to admire it for decades to come.
“If you’ve lived around here a while, you know the piece," said Ormond MainStreet Executive Director Julia Truilo with a laugh. "You either love it or you hate it. I think there’s no middle ground."
The house was listed for three and a half years before selling, said Bill Partington II, owner of AHC Safe & Lock and MainStreet Board member. Eventually, realtor Debbie Weller mentioned that the new owners may not want to keep the tall sculpture, and, because of Ormond MainStreet's involvement in the local arts community, Partington II thought it would be great if the sculpture was donated to them so that the board could figure out how to best preserve it.
“It was kind of an iconic thing and people always talked about it, even when we were working to disassemble it," Partington II said. "People would come by and admire it.”
After this came to fruition, and Partington II was able to rally members of the community to dismantle it, it was time to search for its new home.
The sculpture was commissioned by retired local orthopedic surgeon Aron Newfield and his wife Norma, who were the first residents of the famed John Anderson home. The sculpture, which measures 23.5 feet tall and 19.5 feet wide, was built by Michael C. Crawford, a Florida artist with family ties to Ormond Beach that mainly did small copper sculptures.
Norma Newfield said the bottom two loops in the art piece symbolize her and her husband, and each of the four loop above them, their children. The white sphere, an iron buoy with a fiberglass mold, symbolizes the moon — so that the Newfield family would forever be reaching for the skies.
The sculpture was erected just on Dec. 31, 1992, just before the Newfield's annual New Years breakfast a few hours later at 12:15 a.m. on Jan. 1, 1993.
"It was just up in time for the party," she said.
She said she was afraid the sculpture would be torn down after the house was sold, since it was a big project for their family that caused a lot of heartache in the years it took to be built. This is a way of saving it, she added.
"I was really very happy when [Ormond MainStreet] wanted it," Newfield said.
Newfield said Crawford died after being hit by a train. Because he died young, Truilo said the biggest problem Ormond MainStreet has had is finding information about him.
“[Crawford] does not appear to have done a lot of these," Truilo said. "His sculptural pieces were much smaller, so there’s not a track record for this in terms of its prominence.”
Partington II said he would love to see the sculpture be displayed near the Granada bridge. There are various art sculptures around town, especially near the fire stations, but Partington II said they're rarely admired by the public. About 20 years ago, he said there was dialogue about creating a sculpture garden in the city.
He believes the Newfields' sculpture could be a great centerpiece for that, and being by the Granada bridge would allow it to be enjoyed by the whole community. Norma Newfield would also love for it to be somewhere near there.
Ormond MainStreet has had a few private entities interested in acquiring the sculpture, and he said that's an alternative as well. The sculpture was also offered to the Ormond Memorial Art Museum and the Museum of Arts and Sciences, but both cited lack of space to display it.
“It would be a shame after the hundred of thousands of people that have driven by it, and recognize it, not to preserve it in some way," Partington II said.
