The Oconee County Library Board of Trustees on Monday approved the placement of a sculpture by Lawrence Stueck, a Watkinsville environmental sculptor and art teacher, at the Oconee County Library in Wire Park.
The artwork, labeled “You Are Here,” is multidimensional to reflect the intersection of the United States, Georgia, and Oconee County.
The sculpture is one of five new artboards funded by the City of Watkinsville in partnership with the Oconee County Cultural Arts Foundation (OCAF).
The Oconee County Library was asked to approve the artwork because it will be located at the front corner of the building, but no Library funds are being used for the piece.
Wire Park already has approved the selection of the sculpture, and Stueck has said he is ready to begin work on the piece following the approval by the Board of Trustees.
In other action at the Monday meeting of the Library Board, the Board approved a request by new Board Chair Rubielen Norris to install a plaque inside the Library listing the members of the Board at the time of the opening of the Wire Park Library in March of last year.
Norris also said budget discussions are underway for the upcoming fiscal year and the Board will be asking the county for additional funding to offset increased health care costs that the state has said the local Board must absorb.
Stueck And Watkinsville
Stueck is prominent in the local arts community, having taught at the University of Georgia and at Athens Academy. He is a member of the Board of Director of OCAF.
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Sketch Of Sculpture By Lawrence Stueck |
Stueck designed and help build the wooden playground at Harris Shoals Park that now has been removed after it aged and was judged to be unsafe.
In a 2010 video shot at Harris Shoals Park, Stueck said the playground with its multiple levels and components reflected his view of the role of play and playgrounds in child development and education.
The sculpture at the Library will have a steel base and stand 70 inches high, according to the sketch provided to the Board on Monday.
The sketch, also presented to the Art Committee of the Library Board on Jan. 7, is multi colored, showing the United States in green, Georgia in purple, and Oconee County in pink.
At that Jan. 7 meeting of the Art Committee, Oconee County Branch Manager James Mitchell said that the Library Board has not yet put out a requests for proposals for artwork it will place either inside or outside the Library.
The proposal to place the Stueck sculpture outside the Library “has nothing to do with the Library money whatsoever,” he said. The funding comes from the City of Watkinsville that partners with OCAF to place art around the city.
Wire Park is inside the City of Watkinsville.
“The artist wanted to put it out here at Wire Park, preferably at the Library,” Mitchell said. “We met with Wire Park. We went over possible locations. They were very excited about it.”
Mitchell said the location is outside of the Library and under the control of Wire Park “but they wouldn’t want to put something in front of the Library unless we were OK with it.”
The Art Committee recommended to the full Library Board that it approve the placement of the art just outside the Library, and the full Library Board on Monday voted unanimously to accept that recommendation.
Other Action
Library Board Chair Norris said at the meeting on Monday that “I really would like to see us put a plaque inside the door of the Board Members that were in place when we built this building.”
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Location Of Sculpture Caught In Sunlight 1/7/2025 Main Entrance To Library At Right |
Some money for such a plaque is available from the original construction funding, she said.
Norris, in her first meeting as chair, said she particularly wanted to recognize the work of Mark Campbell, who finished his term as chair at the end of last year.
She said Campbell “worked very, very hard to make sure this building was done properly. He is an engineer, and he used his expertise to make sure that we had what we needed.”
The vote was unanimous.
Norris presented a proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget showing an increase of $34,404 in funding from the Oconee County Board of Commissioners, bringing its total to $544,404 out of a total budget of $688,856.
That additional money exceeds the 2 percent increase that the county usually provides to fund the two Oconee County libraries, one at Wire Park and the other in Bogart, Norris noted.
Norris said she will be asking the county to increase its funding to that level.
The budget shows $31,000 from the Oconee County Board of Education, $25,851 from the City of Watkinsville, and $7,000 from the City of Bogart. These are the same contributions as in the current fiscal year.
Video
The video below is of the Library Board meeting at the Oconee County Library in Wire Park on Jan. 13 as well as of the Art Committee meeting, also at the Library in Wire Park, on Jan. 7.
The Jan. 7 meeting follows the Jan. 13 meeting in the video and begins at 31:57 in the video.
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