Julie Joy Saypoff Book Sculpture

There's a pile of books outside the Millburn Public Library, but it's not a stack someone easily can take home with them.

It's a new sculpture completed by Julie Joy Saypoff, a Millburn artist, that was sponsored by the Arts Advisory Committee and several dozen local professionals and businesses, and it is to be dedicated in a ceremony soon. The sculpture, titled "Inspiration," depicts a stack of books and has a series of words.

About a year ago Saypoff approached township officials wanting to install a sculpture outside the library. She said her family has been part of the library community for a long time, and she thought it was the perfect place for a sculpture.

She recalled how locals had told her Millburn needed sculpture, especially when she was moving her sculptures to be shipped to Spain to be installed in a park there.

But she wanted to say thank you to Millburn for the education system, the library and everything else that's been assets to her family. "I wanted to show my appreciation," she said.

Laraine Barach, Arts Advisory Committee chairwoman, said the committee has been wanting to do outdoor sculpture for two years, but they hadn't found the right work. The committee is committed to finding places in town for local artists to show of their work, especially in public spaces. But Millburn doesn't have any outdoor art, which the committee wanted to have done. In addition to the library, the committee is interested in placing art in Taylor Park.

Then Mayor Sandra Haimoff knew of the committee's desire for outdoor art when Saypoff approached her with the offer. She put the two together.

The sculpture also isn't a donation. Instead it's a sponsored project, so the committee had to raise money for it. Barach said it was fairly easy through some events and an overwhelming support from township officials and those interested in the arts in town.

"We embrace the local artists," she said. "We wanted the community to celebrate its own and give (the artists) a place to display their work... This gives them a new way to show off their talent. It's an uplifting and it's a landmark."

Saypoff said it's one of the few representational pieces she's completed, working mainly on abstract projects. But she wanted people to know it was books. Her work is "organic," in that it looks like it came from the ground, and has movement, which she said is hard to do with books. But she created the books in a way so they look like stairs to be climbed. And the book opens like it's a set of wings.

She wanted to give the piece that inspirational feel she and many others have. "There's a life to it," she said of the piece. "They have their own voice." In this case the books have that voice through the words.

The process took over a year and started in Saypoff's studio in her garage and ended in her driveway. She welded together the frame with refrigerator tubing and then fitted the copper over the frame. She said copper is great because it's easy mold, but it's also good for outside art because it won't rust and changes with the environment. But her studio in the three-car garage wasn't big enough to hold the sculpture. She finished the work in her driveway on some of the hottest days of the year.

Moving it was the hardest part, though, and it took them driving slowly down Glen Avenue and working with a group of men to move it onto the granite base that was installed in front of the library.

Now that it's installed, it's gratifying for her to drive by and see her work. "It looks like it's home," Saypoff said.

Barach said the work exceeds the expectations the committee had for the work. "It looks like it was part of the original plans (for the library)," she said. "It's a local landmark" that was made in Millburn by someone who is from the township.

And it's already getting reaction, she said. The library plans to hold story hour for children at the sculpture, and another artist wants to hold a poetry reading at the sculpture. The committee needs to raise money in order to complete the area, including benches.

Saypoff's work can be seen in other places in New Jersey including the New Jersey Arts Incubator Gallery in West Orange, a sculpture park in Orange, the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton and the ACL Gallery in Livingston.