More than five years after it initially was conceived, a monument to Duluth's living veterans, police officers and firefighters is one step closer to reality.
On Monday, seven finalists for the Living Honorarium project will present scaled-down, three-dimensional models to the selection committee for the Duluth Fine Arts League. The committee could pick the winning artist by day's end, DFAL member Jennifer Freeman said.
The winner will receive a $50,000 commission to create the monument on a 35-foot-by-50-foot patch of grass on Main Street, just off the town green in Duluth. City officials hope to unveil the monument with pomp and pageantry on or near Memorial Day, Freeman said.
The Living Honorarium, once dubbed the Living Memorial, originated in 2005 but foundered in late 2007 as Duluth faced a souring economy and plans for a new $13 million City Hall. It is the brainchild of Gwinnett County Commissioner Shirley Lasseter, Duluth's former mayor.
The Gwinnett community of 26,000 is known for displaying hundreds of crosses and flags bearing the names of fallen veterans. But, Lasseter said, little attention is paid to living people who put their lives on the line.
"We really need to recognize our living servants, public servants and veterans, because the shame of it is, we don't recognize them until they are gone," said Lasseter, who is also a member of the selection panel.
In 2007, the city conducted a competition to generate ideas for the monument. Lasseter and other jurors -- including Michael Arad, who designed the memorial for the World Trade Center in New York -- picked a design by a 22-year-old Georgia Tech architecture student. It was a 32-foot-long stone wall dotted with 3,000 tiny holes, an estimate of the number of service personnel living in the city.
The project idled after that. Then last March city officials resurrected the project and changed the focus from architecture to artistry. They also handed the reins -- and a scaled-down budget -- to the Duluth Fine Arts League. The original commission was $150,000 to $300,000.
Freeman said the current entries range from contemporary abstract to traditional, interactive and kinetic.
City Administrator Phil McLemore said beyond offering a way to honor living service personnel, the monument will add another point of interest for downtown visitors.
"The criteria for this thing was not just a granite monument," McLemore said, "it was for a piece of art that would serve a function, too."
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