Public Art Sculpture Revealed to Commemorate Paramount Theater’s 100th Anniversary

(KNSI) – As you walk or drive down East St. Germain Street, you may notice a new sculpture outside the Paramount Theater. The sculpture, dubbed “Write On,” looks just like a pencil. It’s made of steel and stained glass and lit from the inside. It was a gift to the City of St. Cloud as a thank you to celebrate Paramount’s 100th anniversary.

Bob Johnson is the Executive Director of the Paramount Center for the Arts, who said it was essential to celebrate the 100-year mark of the theater.

“You know this theater is a landmark. It has a visible dominance. It has the arts and culture that represents a landmark. It’s orientation for all of us who come downtown. It’s not the Eiffel Tower. It’s not the Great Wall of China. But it’s our St Cloud landmark. Over ten decades, hundreds of thousands of people have walked through these doors, or they’ve met people inside and have become friends. They’ve shared inspiration, and joy, entered an education in arts and culture, and they’ve made connections. I often refer to this as the living room of the community. That’s kind of what happens in our homes, people get together, they get to know one another through art.”

Solveig Anderson, Director of Education and Outreach with the Paramount, explains that because the predominant art form throughout the history of the theater has been the written word. A pencil was chosen because for every script, movie, or play, musical score, lyrics, feature, or sketch, everything needed to be first written down.

“Many on common napkins over dinner and drinks. Ideas that started with a pencil and paper, a draft in a revision, a crunched a ball of paper flying toward the basket. A grown and a sign and determined the pause and then back to the drawing table to work until it was right.”

Even after a final script is printed, she says it continues to be scribbled on, this time for subtle nuances like lighting cues, directions, and conductor markings.

When thinking of who to contact for the design, Anderson said they turned to local artist Mary Bruno of Bruno Press, who turned to sculptor Karl Unsaasch, who called his frequent co-collaborator Sam Spiczka.

Bruno owns St. Joseph-based Bruno Press, which creates letterpress, greeting cards, prints, posters, and more. During the pandemic, she created Quarantine Storytime, where she would read books on Facebook live and chat with viewers. Bruno explained that being born and raised in St. Cloud, she attended camps at the Paramount, then taught classes and exhibited her art. She said being asked to be part of this project was her way of paying homage to a place that helped her get where she is today.

Anderson explained that Spiczka is the one who brought Unaasch’s idea to life by working in 3D by molding the steel into the pencil shape.

Spiczka spoke about the symbolism of a pencil representing the freedom of possibility and creativity and how much he likes old technology, such as a pencil versus our digital world and the confines of it, calling it a “bounded box that some programmers decided what the parameters of your creativity are going to be. But, a pencil? It doesn’t crash. It doesn’t run out of power. It can’t be hacked. It can’t be stolen from you. If it breaks, you pull out your knife and sharpen it, and you get back to work.”

St. Cloud City Council President Jeff Goerger accepted the sculpture on the city’s behalf. He called it “wonderful” and said that public art, the arts, and culture have had such a positive effect on the city and that people coming to St. Cloud to take in the arts will help in an economic sense. He also expressed how arts positively impact the mental health of the community. Given the times we live in, for people to create and participate in the arts is important.

The sculpture unveiling is one of five events scheduled between now and December to celebrate.

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