Comments for Bronze Fairy Tales on Broadway

Piece image

Produced by Sarah Elzas

Other pieces by Sarah Elzas

Summary: A walk down Broadway with Tom Otterness, discovering his fairy tale-inspired sculptures
 

User image

Review of Bronze Fairy Tales on Broadway

Programmer’s looking for content on artists and public art should look here. And not just for New York; with the proper intro this can play in Topeka just the same. It is a profile of Tom Otterness, a public artist who has created many bronze statues for the New York streets that have a fairy tale theme. There’s a good use of in situ interviews and some funny tape that would make for a good promo. The timing is perfect too for a drop-in.

User image

Review of Bronze Fairy Tales on Broadway

Sarah's piece shines the equivalent of an infrared light on a miles long section of upper Broadway in Manhattan. Hidden in plain view on the narrow boulevard along Broadway's wide expanse are fairy tale sculptures, from 71st street on up to 146th street. These sculptures exist with little explanation, and this piece shines it's light on one enormous bronze after another. These fairy tale sculptures from sculptor Tom Otterness tell stories in their symbolic language about human culture. Sarah takes us on a walk with the artist as he lovingly cleans his works. He explains the significance of each piece, both from his midwestern perspective and from that of his artwork's intended viewers.

The piece is simple, mostly the artist's voice with an occassional narration from the youthful sounding Sarah. The sounds of Broadway's busy traffic add a layer of "city authentique." The clip includes the Studio 360 outro attribution; minus this it would work well in any station's segment about the city, hidden treasures, artists, etc. Well done!