Outdoor Sculpture Path to be Installed in Medfield Beginning in June

A sculpture path is being installed in Medfield along Route 109 Main Street to coincide with the program, "Medfield Reads."

Sculptor Hannah Verlin's work will be featured throughout 16 outdoor sites in Medfield along Route 109 between the Peak House (347 Main St.) and the old section of Vine Lake Cemetery (625 Main St.) beginning on June 1 and lasting through October.

The sculpture path, entitled "Thoughts Are Free" is positioned to geographically identify Medfield's planned Cultural District and thematically tie to Aaron Lansky's book "Outwitting History," according to a press release from Medfield resident and project manager Jean Mineo.

The installation includes the 16 lines from the poem Thoughts are Free, cut from white paper and attached to 15 telephone poles and one brick wall, according to Mineo. The paper words are overlays of both English and Yiddish. The layering of the text, though still legible, will make it unclear where English begins and Yiddish ends, the characters merging together.

The translation will give viewers the opportunity to see and sample the language that Lansky details so lovingly in his book. Over time, as the paper is exposed to the elements, the text may wear away, even as it remains - much like the Yiddish language.

The initial installation will occur at five sites on between June 1-6 (weather dependent), with additional installations planned in June and July until all 16 sites are completed. The installation will remain on view through October.

“The inspiration for Thoughts Are Free is drawn both from Lansky’s efforts to preserve a fading language as well as from my own experience," Verlin said in the press release. "In my family, Yiddish has gradually disappeared through the generations. My great-grandmother was a fluent Yiddish speaker, my grandmother is a serviceable speaker, my father speaks a few words and phrases, but I only know only the words that have passed into the common vernacular.”

Said Mineo: “The bright white letters will be mounted on telephone poles and will be visible as people walk or drive through town. It can also be seen as a kind of treasure hunt to find all of the sites and complete the poem. Hannah’s concept is a brilliant addition to the Medfield Reads program and can be appreciated by a broad audience, even if they haven’t read Outwitting History.”

The poem, Thoughts are Free, is from a collection of documents which was secretly gathered by members of the Oneg Shabbat Society as testimony to the reality of life under Nazi occupation in the Warsaw Ghetto and beyond. The poetry was found postwar, buried in milk cans. It has since been photographed onto microfiche, and is available online at www.PoetryInHell.org. The English translation is provided by Sarah Traister Moskovitz.

This summer's sculpture path is not the first organized by Mineo in town. Two years ago, Mineo brought a similar path at Vine Lake Cemetery. Five sculptors each produced a piece of contemporary sculpture related to the theme portals, which was displayed in the old section of the cemetery. The sculptures, according to Mineo, were well received throughout town.

“The response from the last one was really exciting,” Mineo said. “I think initially people were hesitant. There was some hesitation about the location and visiting a cemetery to see a contemporary sculpture. But once they did that, at least the feedback that I got, were so presently surprised and they were thanking me for the sculpture and for the opportunity to visit this really hidden gem in town.”

This year, thanks again to Mineo's efforts and a grant she received from the Medfield Cultural Council, a sculpture path featuring Verlin's work will outline the 3/4-mile section of the proposed Cultural District.

"Thoughts Are Free" Poem:

My thoughts are free
they cannot be captured!
They just flutter by
like quiet new dawns
for no one can deface them
deny or erase them
You know it’s not new
You know this is true.
I think what I like
What makes me feel pleasure
My thoughts come and go
They’re my quiet treasure.
And no one can know them
Imprison or own them
No one can deny
Di gedanken zint fray.

About the Sculptor

Verlin is a sculptor from Sommerville and a graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She is a member of Boston Sculptors Gallery and has created several outdoor temporary public artworks including: The Flower of Lowell (U MA Lowell, 2012), Mystical River (Condon Shell, Medford, 2012), Between Wave & Sky (2011, installation incorporated into dance with the group MonkeyHouse), Bloom (2010, two-day installation at Union Square’s Prospect Hill Monument in Somerville), Nest Eggs (2008, Cryptic Providence in Providence, RI), Cyclic Light (2008, First Night Boston), and Nesting (2007, Sculpture Under McGrath in Somerville).

About the Medfield Cultural District

The Medfield Cultural District is being planned by a volunteer committee of cultural and community leaders to geographically define Medfield’s cultural assets, support local cultural development and collaboration, enhance visitor and resident experiences, and stimulate economic activity. The proposed District runs along Rte. 109 from the Peak House to Vine Lake Cemetery and extends one block both north and south in the town’s center to include all town properties on the National Register of Historic Properties, approximately 50 businesses, and most religious and government institutions.

About the Medfield Reads Program

Medfield Reads is year-long program (through August) by the Medfield Public Library to encourage residents to read the book Outwitting History by Massachusetts author Aaron Lansky. The library and partnering organizations have developed related programming to examine themes of intergenerational dialog, language, and cultural inheritance. Medfield Reads is federally funded with LSTA funds through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.