The sculpture “Tempered by Memory,” which was made using World Trade Center steel, will not be on display during the city’s Sept. 11 anniversary ceremony as was earlier recommended.
Joel Reed, executive director of Saratoga Arts, said on Tuesday transporting the 25-foot-high steel sculpture from a studio in Northumberland to the city would be too costly.
“It’s just not feasible,” Reed said. A local construction company has offered to transport the sculpture, free of charge, from the studio to a permanent site in the city.
“We are not going to ask them twice,” Reed said. No permanent site has yet been selected for the artwork.
Reed estimated the transportation cost at between $10,000 and $15,000.
City Mayor Scott Johnson will soon announce a special committee to select and recommend to the City Council a permanent site for the sculpture that was commissioned by Saratoga Arts, the former Saratoga County Arts Council.
Where in the city the sculpture, created by local artists John Van Alstine and Noah Savett, will be located has been publicly debated all summer. Some want the sculpture in front of the Saratoga Springs Visitor Center while others would like it located near the fire station on Lake Avenue, among other suggested locations.
City officials said earlier this month that the sculpture could be transported on a flatbed truck to Congress Park on Sunday, Sept. 11, so it could be part of the 10th anniversary ceremony of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Saratoga Arts has raised about $170,000 for the sculpture project through private donations.
Reed said the site selection committee is expected to begin its work after Labor Day and will hopefully offer its recommendation within 30 to 60 days.
He said transporting the heavy sculpture “will be a complicated and expensive proposition requiring extensive preparation and labor and heavy equipment.”
“We will not be bringing it into town for a temporary rolling display,” Reed said in an email.
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