Dayton to spend $30k to move sculpture

The city of Dayton will spend about $30,000 to relocate a sculpture to make way for an outdoor music amphitheater planned for downtown.

The Dayton Art Institute loaned the city Charles Ginnever’s sculpture Movin’ Out for Jesse Owens, which has sat near the southwestern corner of Dave Hall Plaza since 1980.

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The piece, which has linked shapes that resemble Olympic rings, will be moved to the top of the hillside in front of the art institute, along a new pedestrian walkway that extends from Riverview Avenue to the entrance rotunda.

“The sculpture is going to come home to the art institute,” said Michael Roediger, director and CEO of the Dayton Art Institute.

The sculpture will be moving out because Dave Hall Plaza is on track to be transformed into the Levitt Pavilion Dayton, a state-of-the-art amphitheater that will offer at least 50 free concerts every year.

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Pavilion supporters still need to raise more than $400,000 to reach their capital goal of $5 million to build the music venue. But they insist that the pavilion will get under construction this year, with shows kicking off in mid-2018. Dave Hall Plaza is the park just north of the Crowne Plaza Dayton.

Ginnever’s sculpture was shipped to the park in several pieces and was welded on site, Roediger said.

The museum will relocate a few of its pieces to the new walkway up to the rotunda to create a “sculpture walk,” Roediger said.

The art institute a couple of years ago received $2.2 million in funding from an Ohio State Capital Appropriations bill, which will pay for a variety of renovations including the new ADA-accessible pedestrian walkway.

Other improvements include replacing the Shaw Gothic Cloister floor, restroom renovations, window replacements and door updates.

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