By Kathy L. Collins
Residents who have had the opportunity to visit downtown Plant City lately will have noticed the very distinctive sculptures placed at various spots throughout downtown. The exhibit is a part of the Man on the Street collection created by J. Seward Johnson and on loan from the Sculpture Foundation. The sculptures will be in Plant City until Saturday, November 1.
To celebrate the exhibit, the Plant City Photo Archives and History Center (Photo Archives) has scheduled several events, the first being a photo contest. All photos must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Friday, October 24 at the Photo Archives located at 106 S. Evers Ave. in Plant City. A completed entry form must accompany the submission. The photo must include at least one person other than the sculpture. Photos can be color or black and white and must be no smaller than 4 x 6 inches and not larger than 8 ½ x 11 inches. The photo must be an original and taken between Monday, July 28 and Friday, October 24.
The winners will receive awards on Thursday, October 30 at 5:30 p.m. at the Photo Archives. Gill Gott, Executive Director of the Photo Archives said, “The Photo Archives encourages the use of photography to record the life and family events in our daily lives as these later become historical records.”
The second event is a private reception and tour scheduled for Tuesday, October 7 beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Photo Archives. Admission is $25 and includes a wine and cheese reception followed by a viewing of the Seward Johnson sculptures video, and concludes the evening with a narrated walking tour of the sculptures.
Gott said, “This event began from the interest that viewers of the sculptures developed as they noticed the many details and special features that Johnson put into his sculptures, such as the brand of the attire, time shown on the watches, names of books and materials used and much more.”
Gott added, “The community reception has been great again this year. People are coming in or calling about the sculptures and making sure they have seen all ten of them.”
For further information and for the exact locations of the sculptures, call the Photo Archives at 754-1578 or e-mail info@plantcityphotoarchives.org.
