Do you 'heart' Port Huron? Waterfront sculpture to be latest local photo op

Would you snap a photo with a big heart sculpture, framing the Blue Water Bridge?

Port Huron officials hope people will be inspired to stop once one is installed at the boardwalk along Thomas Edison Parkway and the St. Clair River.

Board members of the city’s Downtown Development Authority signed off on the idea last Tuesday, approving installation costs for the structure, as well as a separate sculpture featuring stacked, staggered boxes on McMorran Boulevard.

City Manager James Freed said a third piece, another heart, is slated to go in South Park around Lincoln Park. While the city has to cover the installation cost in the two districts overseen by the DDA, including along the boardwalk, the administrator said all three sculptures are being donated for use.

The hearts are each steel, red structures, weighing 2,000 pounds, he said, and assembled from two prefabricated pieces.

“We wanted to put something on the boardwalk that’s a photo moment, right?” Freed said Tuesday, referencing the waterfront heart. "So, we considered putting up the big white letters, ‘Port Huron,’ or #porthuron, which we still may do with the CVB (Blue Water Convention And Visitors Bureau). Sarnia has just done it across the river, so there’s big white letters that say, ‘Sarnia,’ but we want to do something a little bit more unique.”

Developer Larry Jones, who has donated art to the city before, designed all three sculptures before having them manufactured. When asked Thursday about the hearts, he said, “The whole idea was to have stuff for the city and the community.”

“The third one is stainless steel boxes,” he said. “The first one is four-foot by four-foot. The next one is … three-foot-six by three-foot-six, then three-foot by three-foot, two-foot-six by two-foot-six, and then two-foot by two-foot. Then, the holes are smaller in each one as they go up.”

Jones recalled being approached by former city manager, Bruce Brown, more than a decade ago about contributing to public art.

A donation of $1,000 came and went, he said, before he ultimately decided to head to a junkyard, welding together and painting materials with a buddy into the fish sculpture that remains at Quay Street and Huron Avenue downtown.

Jones aid he thought most people would enjoy the sculptures, though he admitted, “A lot of people don’t like stuff because, let’s face it, it’s modern art.”

DDA member Sadaat Hossain said he found the heart sort of “gaudy.”

“It would be a cool photo for all these cats that are taking their wedding pictures on the boardwalk. That would be cool,” he said. “That’s about the only thing that I would utilize it for.”

But Freed emphasized that all the art was considered temporary and aimed to be rotated out after a few years. Jones, too, said he hoped to find other uses for the art, such as trading pieces with other communities.

Other DDA members liked the idea of the new sculptures going up.

“Everybody’s tastes are different. I think it’s a great photo opp and something unique. Philadelphia can’t have all the love,” member Kurt Eppley said, recalling the latter community’s well-known love sculpture with stacked lettering.

“I think it’s a good idea. … And I think it’s nice to be putting it in South Park, too,” added member Wendy Krabach. “And I like the idea of the piece on McMorran. Just to draw people to it. It’s interesting. And I agree with Kurt. Art is very subjective. You’re not going to like everything. But I think the photo opp is a great idea.”

Freed later said the sculptures, which he’d earlier called placemaking tools, would likely go up the first week of May.

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Do you 'heart' Port Huron? Waterfront sculpture to be latest local photo op