“I felt like I could do a good design that would mean something to me and the city,” she said.
The public clearly agreed. Mentzer’s design, Kayak, ended up being one of the three winners of the project, along with Laurie Borggreve of Edina, MN for Horizon, and fellow Ann Arbor resident Shaun Whitehouse’s Tower and Tree.
An advisory committee consisting of local professional artists, arts educators, business and community leaders whittled down the more than 240 submissions to just six final choices, culminating in a public vote of nearly 3,000 ballots.
Since the contest was open worldwide to all ages, some of the designs they received were less serious than others, including one child’s design of just a giant piece of poop.
“It’s fun to see kids submitting stuff, but some of the kids were also pretty cheeky, too,” Skidmore laughed.
As for the more serious submissions, and those who won, the next step in the project is waiting.
Chris Elenbaas, an engineer with the Public Works Department for the City of Ann Arbor, said they are currently in the process of signing an agreement to use the artwork, which has been submitted to EJ, a manufacturing company in East Jordan, MI that the city works with. The plan is to have a substantial run of each casting.