Plant City commissioners approved June 23 to donate $5,000 to the Plant City Photo Archives and History Center to bring the popular “Man on the Street” collection of sculptures back to Plant City.
“It’s an excellent way to showcase the City of Plant City and bring people in,” said Gil Gott, executive director of the center.
The collection includes 10 life-sized sculptures by artist J. Seward Johnson that depict a mariachi band, a soldier returning from war, a snoozing beach-goer and more. The sculptures will be shipped July 9 and arrive July 18, to Plant City. They will be placed in downtown areas such as McCall Park and Bruton Memorial Library through October.
“I love the diversity I see here with this group,” Commissioner Mary Thomas Mathis said.
Different sculptures from the collection visited Plant City in 2012, including the iconic kiss between a sailor and a nurse at the end of World War II and children playing patty cake.
The sculptures were so popular with residents and tourists alike that the center hosted a photo contest, extending an invitation to take creative snapshots with the art pieces.
“The only complaint I got is when they left,” Gott said.
It has taken considerable work to get the traveling display to Plant City. Since the previous exhibition, the center has been working to secure another round of sculptures. The sculptures are managed by The Sculpture Foundation of Santa Monica, Calif., and are demanded by cities throughout the United States. The collection has even has crossed the Atlantic for exhibits in countries such as Germany.
“We were waiting to see if and when we could get them back,” Gott said.
The center partnered with the City of Plant City, the Greater Plant City Chamber of Commerce, Arts Council of Plant City, the Downtown Business and Merchants Association, George and Cassandra Banning, and the Plant City Times & Observer to bring this year’s exhibit to Plant City.
“I think we have a good thing going here,” Mayor Rick Lott said.
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.