The Birth of Spring
Project and execution – Leonia Chmielnik
A sculptural accent that is an allegory of the arrival of spring – a block with a free plant composition, showing a flower calyx in bloom. The sculpture was made of forged and welded copper sheet, and consists of seven elements of different sizes, representing the petals of the calyx and the pistil of the flower. It is placed on a small sandstone pedestal on a square plan.
This sculpture was made in 1982 at the request of the city authorities, as part of a project to place twelve sculptures along the then al. Jedności Narodowej (today al. Jana Pawła II) up to and including Lotników Square, aimed at creating an open city gallery. Two works created at that time, by Ryszard Wilk and Czesław Wronka, unfortunately have not survived to this day.
The initiator of the aforementioned project was another sculptor from Szczecin - Stanisław Biżek.
Leonia „Lena” Chmielnik
(born 21 February 1941 in Cieszyn) - Polish sculptor. In 1965 she graduated from the Faculty of Painting Graphics and Sculpture of the State Higher School of Fine Arts in Poznań. She studied in the studios of: Jacek Puget, Bazyli Wojtowicz and Tadeusz Brzozowski. In 1965 she arrived in Szczecin, where she settled permanently. She has received a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture and Art three times. She has participated in many plein-air workshops as well as individual and collective exhibitions in Poland and abroad. She creates sculptural works in metal, stone, wood and ceramics. She also paints and prints. She has published a volume of poems, entitled ‘Entering Stone’, which is her poetic debut.
Text and study: Marta Płachta - author of the project entitled 'Halo! Whose sculpture is this?" (SBO 2024 edition)
https://infoludek.pl/szczecin/halo-czyja-to-rzezba-czyli-projekt-podpisania-szczecinskich-pomnikow/
Source: https://bip.um.szczecin.pl/chapter_59232.asp; wikipedia; a statement about Leonia Chmielnik's sculpture; author's private archive,
https://pomeranica.pl/wiki/Plik:Akcent_rzezbiarski_Narodziny_Wiosny_1.JPG
