Joellen Domenico & James Kindgren Sculpture

Boulder County sculpture contest: Butterfly vs. Hawk

BOULDER -- Boulder County's 150th anniversary sculpture competition has come down to a tie, for the time being, between an airborne hawk and a Monarch butterfly perched on a railroad spike.

Commissioner Will Toor said Tuesday that he favors the sculpture of the metal butterfly atop the bronze spike to install on the Boulder County Courthouse plaza next to Boulder's Pearl Street Mall.

That sculpture would represent a combination of the county's railroad and natural histories, Toor said.

Commissioner Ben Pearlman said he likes the butterfly-and-spike proposal, too.

But when it came to having to choose between those two ideas, "I would probably lean towards the hawk," Pearlman said.

Commissioner Cindy Domenico won't break the tie by siding with either Toor or Pearlman.

She recused herself from the decision because her sister, Lafayette artist Joellen Domenico, participated in the contest - and submitted the hawk design.

A Boulder artist, James Kindgren, suggested the butterfly on the spike.

Toor and Pearlman eventually put off choosing the new sculpture, but didn't say when they might revisit the question.

Kindgren wrote in June that his proposed piece "consists essentially of three parts -- a rock base, a spike form and a butterfly form."

"At first glance, one might experience a juxtaposition of the strong decisive man-made 'spike form' versus the delicate natural and evolved 'butterfly form,'" Kindgren wrote. "Upon closer inspection, the 'spike form' appears to have been driven or embedded in the earth and covered with an informative vine, a relief, consisting of symbols and statements that suggest a story of struggle and strength of character, perhaps promoting further inspection."

The butterfly, Kindgren wrote, "perches contently waiting for the urge to fly -- nature's great symbol for change."

Joellen Domenico's sculpture features the imagery of "a hawk inflight, the once earth-bound creature who surpassed all other animals, grew feathers and took flight," she said in a June written description of her proposal.

"I imagine her flight as she soars the open skies high above the valleys and rock outcroppings of the Flatirons, breathtaking views of the Rockies, and vast open plains of eastern Boulder County," Domenico wrote.

The county has budgeted $20,000 for the design, fabrication, transportation and delivery of whichever sculpture is chosen.