Charlotte unveils first piece of public art to enthusiastic crowd

On the first real cold day in Charlotte in several weeks, community members filled Peter’s Circle in downtown Charlotte Thursday, Jan. 26 to get their first glimpse of Charlotte’s first piece of public art. The unnamed piece, conceived and crafted by Charlotte native, Frank Balluff, didn’t disappoint.
Representing the diverse community members that make up his hometown, Balluff said the three towers he created out of stainless steel represent people coming together to create something greater than themselves. The towers, which are mounted on granite slabs stand 9-feet, 10-feet and 11-feet tall. Balluff said the variation in size symbolizes growth and diversity, while the cubes themselves also symbolize the building blocks of the city.
“When thinking about what represented the City of Charlotte, I couldn’t help but be drawn to the theme of unity,” Balluff said. “Charlotte is an emerging and very strong community. I wanted to make something that represented individuals coming together to form something bigger and stronger.”
The sculpture was made possible through a $10,000 Art for Communities Grant awarded to the city by the Lansing Area Economic Partnership (LEAP) and the PNC Foundation. Steve Willobee, Chief Operations Officer for LEAP, said he was excited to learn the theme of unity played a major role in the project
“When you look at the actual mission and the vision that’s behind the artwork, it was really cool to come together, because our slogan is ‘stronger together,’” Willobee said.
Addressing the large crowd gathered, Charlotte Mayor Tim Lewis said the piece of art really symbolizes what #CharlotteRising is — coming together, working together to make a better place.
“It represents the city coming together, the region coming together and looking at Charlotte in a different way than maybe we have done before,” Lewis said. “This really should be an inspiration to our community. It’s something totally unique and different than anything most of us have seen before within the community and has been a real combined effort.”
The Charlotte sculpture is the 22nd piece of public art to be installed in the greater-Lansing region thanks to LEAP’s Public Arts for Communities Grants.