Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium Comes to an End

Eight internationally known sculptors are putting the finishing touches on their work this week as the Schoodic International Sculpture Symposium (SISS) enters its final days in the University of Maine’s Steam Plant parking lot.

The site is free and open to the public daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Aug. 30, when a closing ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. at the site. Seven of the finished sculptures will be on display before they are moved to their permanent locations in Bangor and Orono. Old Town’s sculpture, which was created by Ton Kalle, is scheduled to be relocated earlier this week to its new home in Riverfront Park.

SISS, which has been held this year in partnership with UMaine, has had thousands of visitors to the site since the symposium opened on July 22. The fourth symposium since 2007, this year has been the first time it has been held outside the Schoodic region of the Maine coast.

SISS brought a total of eight sculptors from Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, Taiwan, New Zealand and Maine to Orono for the six-week event. Each sculptor was paired with one of the participating community partners — the University of Maine, the University of Maine Foundation, Husson University, Acadia Hospital, the town of Orono and the cities of Bangor and Old Town — to create a sculpture for a site chosen by each partner’s committee.

Volunteers from each of the seven SISS partners have staffed the site each day. Each partner group has done its own fundraising for its participation in SISS, and donations are still being accepted.

For more information, contact the following representatives: