Lauren Voiers Sculpture

Westlake grad's sculpture honors former Beatle Lennon

Saturday would have been former Beatle John Lennon's 70th birthday.

Although she was born long after Beatlemania swept America in the 60s, and after Lennon was murdered in December 1980, Westlake native Lauren Voiers played a big role in the musician's 70th birthday tribute.

Voiers, a 2009 graduate of Westlake High School, designed the 18-foot sculpture unveiled Saturday in Liverpool, England, by Lennon's first wife, Cynthia, and son Julian.

Voiers, whose name rose in the art world after an art publisher saw one of her paintings on the Internet, was on hand for the unveiling in Liverpool.

The "Peace and Harmony" monument consists of a globe with doves flying above it.

On her website, Voiers said she came upon the idea to create a painting about world peace. The California-based Global Peace Initiative later asked her to make a sculpture based on her painting. Then, The Beatles Story, a Fab-Four- themed museum in Liverpool, asked her to place the sculpture in Liverpool as a tribute to Lennon, who was known for his anti-war stance in the 1960s and 70s.

Voiers said Julian Lennon called her and asked that the sculpture include a white feature. John Lennon once told his son that if died, he would send a message from the hereafter, in the form of a white feather, that he was OK.

As the sculpture was unveiled Saturday, the Liverpool Signing Choir performed Lennon's song "Give Peace a Chance."

Voiers said she wants the sculpture to serve as a symbol of peace to the people of Europe.

"My hope is that it will be a beacon of light in memory of John Lennon, who devoted the later part of his life to a worldwide peace movement," the 19-year-old said. "If my monument helps carry on the unfinished work of John Lennon, then I believe I will have done my small part in helping to promote peace and freedom."