Dedication of "Greater Good"

On November 9, the City of Suwanee gathered with veterans, families, and community members at Town Center for the dedication of Greater Good. Standing over 24 feet tall, the structure is a beacon in Suwanee’s Town Center Park, a sculptural memorial, and a place of inspiration and contemplation. The sloped walkway invites visitors down through the 5000 square foot reflecting pool and into a circular seating area that is eye level with the water when underneath the sculpture.

The gently curved spires of stainless steel and bronze represent the 6 branches of the military as they emerge from the water and work together to reach for the sky. An array of commemorative plaques spans the perimeter of the 60’ x 80’ reflecting pool walls, allowing the citizens of Suwanee to honor the service of individual veterans within their community.

"Affinity" Installed

Installation of Affinity was completed last month in Middleton, WI. Commissioned by Hy Cite Enterprises with support from CODAworx, the sculpture represents the company’s core values of relationships, connection, family and persistence. It now serves as a beacon and gathering place at Hy Cite’s Middleton campus, and as a symbol of the company’s contribution to the Middleton community.

Requiring coordinated planning and preparation, the sculpture arrived in 3 sections that were joined and seamlessly welded on site. Many thanks to our incredible fabrication and installation team, and to Hy Cite and CODAworx!

"Greater Good" Installed in Town Center Park

Our team recently traveled to Suwanee, GA to install Greater Good, an immersive veterans memorial sculpture in Suwanee’s new Town Center Park. Capping off a process involving research and interviews with veterans and community, a complicated fabrication, transit and install process, the journey of this project was a welcome challenge and ultimately a great success. Thanks to the city and community of Suwanee for the vision, help and support along the way! Dedication and grand opening will take place in the fall/winter.

"Gather" Unveiled at Mayla Pompano

Gather was delivered and installed in late 2023, while construction at Mayla Pompano was still in its final phases. With the plaza now complete we returned for the grand opening, as the 28’ tall sculpture was unveiled as the focal point of the new development’s public plaza. Gather is a sculptural tribute to the age-old purpose of a plaza as a place for communities to meet and celebrate togetherness and solidarity. The twisting crescent forms that make up the sculpture emerge directly from the plaza hardscape, climbing towards the sky in a seemingly precarious yet graceful act of balance.

New Monumental Commission Awarded - "Affinity"

HyCite Corporation has selected Michael Szabo Studio’s design, Affinity to be installed at their new headquarters in Middleton, WI. The piece will serve as a landmark, gathering place, and tribute to its community of independent distributors.

In the Studio - "Gather"

Fabrication is wrapping up in the studio for Gather, a 28’ tall sculpture soon to be installed on the pedestrian plaza at Mayla Pompano, a mixed-use development of multifamily residencies, offices and retail space. The 4 forms that make up the sculpture were fabricated independently before being joined horizontally on the shop floor—the final piece is too tall to stand up in the shop!

Gather is a sculptural tribute to the age-old purpose of a plaza as a place for communities to meet and celebrate togetherness and solidarity. The twisting crescent forms that make up the sculpture emerge directly from the plaza hardscape, working together to climb towards the sky in a seemingly precarious yet graceful act of balance.

Veterans Memorial Sculpture - "Greater Good"

The City of Suwanee, GA recently selected our studio’s proposal for a Veterans Memorial sculpture in its new Town Center Park on Main. Greater Good is an immersive experience, at once a beacon and a place of reflection. Installation will take place in late phases of the park expansion construction, scheduled for fall 2024. More updates to come!

Standing over 20 feet tall and with a diameter of 24 feet, Greater Good is comprised of 6 forms emerging from the reflecting pool in the park. The forms gracefully slope together and support each other as they rise to cover a circular area with a curved seating bench, the walls of which sit level with the water of the pool. The seals of each of the 6 branches of our military are represented on the walls, corresponding to the 6 rising forms. As visitors enter the gently sloped pathway from the plaza to the sculpture, they pass a wall of tiled stainless-steel placards that community members can use to commemorate their veterans. The sculpture seems to grow higher above them as they descend and eventually reach eye level with the water surface when seated in the circular reflection ring.

The Memorial will offer veterans a place to reconnect to their branch and to reflect and experience the personal meaning of their military service. At the same time, this space will allow those who did not serve to gain some understanding of what it means to those who did, and perhaps inspire them to consider their own contribution to the greater good.

"Moment" Installed at Oregon Institute of Technology

We are pleased to share our most recent public installation! Moment is an immersive experience that integrates a sculptural shade structure and seating element into the new showcase entrance to the Center for Excellence in Engineering and Technology at Oregon Tech’s Klamath Falls campus. Inspired by the vision of the CEET as an ecosystem of collaboration and innovation, and by the breathtaking sunset view of Upper Klamath Lake, the flowing forms of the sculpture evoke the movement of water within the Klamath Basin and the flow of knowledge, learning and innovation that takes place at the Center.

After a multi-phase fabrication process, Moment was loaded onto a truck in June to make the journey to Klamath Falls, where on-site installation of the sculpture followed by forming and pouring of the integrated concrete curved bench took place over 4 days.

New Public Commission Awarded - "Moment"

On May 25th, Michael Szabo Studio was awarded the commission for exterior artwork at the new Center for Excellence in Engineering and Technology at Oregon Institute of Technology’s Klamath Falls campus. The selection committee unanimously chose Michael’s proposal, Moment, for its site responsiveness and interactive draw for students, faculty and visitors to the new building. Serving as sculpture, shade structure and seating element, the piece will stand over 12 feet tall and 25 feet long. The project is now in the design development stage with installation slated for 2022.

The two undulating, ribbon-like forms of Moment will emerge from the landscape, intertwining and interacting with each other. Midway before returning to the ground, the forms converge as they graze a semicircular concrete seating bench that offers varying levels of seating caused by the gentle slope of the site. The result is a dynamic experience that invites interaction with the piece and between viewers, offering moments to sit and catch shade or conversation, or providing a gateway to your next destination on campus. Walking through or around the piece, the forms seem to move and flow like water in the nearby Klamath river.

Unveiling of "Eddies"

Fabrication of the 16 foot tall Eddies was completed in the studio in the fall of 2020, but the piece hibernated in storage through the winter before traveling to its permanent home in the beautiful new Haymarket Plaza in Eau Claire, WI. As it turned out, it was worth the wait and installation was completed in time for Eau Claire’s celebration of the arts this year throughout the month of May, including an event with live music and the unveiling of the Eddies in the plaza as a culmination of Wisconsin’s Creative Economy Month.

Spectrum West on Wisconsin Public Radio - Interview with Michael Szabo and Jo Ellen Burke, president of the Eau Claire Arts Council

Serving as the central public feature of the newly built Haymarket Plaza, the two sweeping loops of Eddies interact with each other and the viewer, evoking the swirling synergy of the Eau Claire and Chippewa rivers as they converge at the site. The studio worked closely with the city staff and project landscape architect to integrate the concept and aesthetic of the sculpture into the overall vision for the plaza. The resulting experience reflects the tight-knit community of Eau Claire and their love for the arts.

Photo credits: Tina Ecker

"Growing Stasis" Installed

In May we traveled to New York to deliver and install Growing Stasis, a 15’ wide bronze sculpture at the entrance to Nice-Pak Corporation. Now that the remodel of the site is complete we had another chance to visit and see the piece lit up on a beautiful summer evening.

Serving as a welcoming statement for the remodeled corporate headquarters of Nice-Pak, the interlocking rings of Growing Stasis represent the three generations of family that have worked to grow and maintain Nice-Pak’s commitment to sustainability in its three spheres: economic, societal and environmental.

"Prairie Crossing" Selected for the 2021 CODAawards Top 100

The internationally acclaimed CODAawards celebrate the projects that most successfully integrate commissioned art into interior, architectural, or public spaces. Entries are reviewed by a jury of thought leaders in the design, architecture, and art worlds.

We are pleased to announce that Michael Szabo’s Prairie Crossing has been selected for the 2021 CODAawards Top 100. The two People’s Choice winners and the 10 category winners selected by the jurors will be announced with a global media campaign and on CODAworx in late August 2021.

Prairie Crossing consists of a 50’ long undulating seating bench that gives way to a web of grasslike arches. Evoking the beautiful chaos of prairie grasses, the web provides a gateway for those entering the Municipal Complex. In the daytime the arches provide shade for rest or conversation while creating intricate shadow designs on the ground below. At night, in-ground up-lights inside and outside of the seating wall illuminate the structure for a dramatic effect from the street or for those approaching on the trail for an evening walk.

This sculpture was commissioned along with Entwine by the city of Wylie to activate the walking trails on the grounds of its Municipal Complex. By exploring the parallel between Wylie's cultural identity and its native Texas Blackland Prairie eco-region, the pieces create a visceral experience for citizens and visitors by illustrating how elegantly the deep roots of people and place can take the lead in defining change and growth into the future. The concept for these pieces was developed through research into the natural and cultural history of the region and ongoing dialogue with the community and city staff.

New Public Installations: "Relate" and "Current"

With exhibitions on hold due to COVID, we spent much of 2020 working on large scale commissions, including two public projects in Florida, both successfully installed in December. Landscaping and site integration for each are now complete. Relate in Port St. Lucie and Current in Pompano Beach are each being enjoyed by the public!

Relate

NW Selvitz & NW Bayshore Roundabout, Port St. Lucie, FL

Standing more than 20’ above street level, Relate signifies the ongoing dialogue between the city of Port St. Lucie, its residents, and the community they create together. The three crescents vary in height and gesture, interacting with a sense of movement and embodying the diverse and multigenerational residents and the community they have built.  The pieces seem to twist and move as motorists circle the roundabout.

Thanks to the City of Port St. Lucie for this incredible drone footage of the installation process of Relate!

Current

Pompano Beach Cultural Arts Center, Pompano Beach, FL

Current welcomes visitors to the Cultural Arts Center adjacent to City Hall in the revitalized downtown Pompano. The 15 foot tall sculpture is an abstracted reference to the infinite and dynamic flow of community, solidarity and creativity that the Cultural Arts Center provides its citizens and visitors, which they in turn feed back to the city to create a reciprocal sense of connection and place. The satin finish of the stainless steel softly reflects the surrounding environment while the rich patina of the bronze evokes the area’s leaves, grasses, ocean and skies.

New Public Commission Awarded - "Relate"

On November 12th, the Port St Lucie City Council voted to approve the commissioning of Relate, a 20’ sculpture to be placed at the roundabout at the corner of NW Selvitz and NW Bayshore Blvd. Michael’s design was recommended to City Council by the Public Art Advisory Board after presentations by 3 finalists in September.

The project is now in design development and early fabrication stages, slated for installation in fall 2020.

Dedication of "Ingress"

On November 9th the City of Highland Park hosted a dedication of the sculpture we recently installed honoring the city’s 150th anniversary. At 20’ long and 8’ tall, Ingress serves as a celebration of the past 150 years of history as well as a gateway into the future for Highland Park. HP150 sponsorship pavers were installed underneath and around Ingress and a circular path was created to invite park visitors to appreciate the piece from all angles.

New Public Commission Awarded - "Eddies"

Fabrication is underway for Eddies, a 16' tall sculpture that will inhabit the newly renovated Haymarket Plaza in Eau Claire, WI. Installation is expected in Spring 2020.

In the Studio - "Ingress"

Fabrication is in its final phases on a public sculpture commemorating the 150th anniversary of the City of Highland Park, IL. At 24’ wide, Ingress symbolizes both a ribbon honoring the first 150 years of Highland Park, and from another angle, a gateway to the future. The piece will be installed in late summer/fall of 2019.

New Public Commission Awarded - "Current"

On April 18th, the Public Art Committee of the City of Pompano Beach, FL selected Michael's proposal for a permanent sculpture to be installed outside the city's Cultural Arts Center. The project is now in planning and pre-fabrication stages, slated for installation in 2020.

Standing over 15’ tall, Current is an abstracted reference to the infinite and dynamic flow of community, solidarity and creativity that the Cultural Arts Center provides its citizens and visitors, which they in turn feed back to the city to create a reciprocal sense of connection and place.