Georgia Ave-Petworth
Plaza intersection of New Hampshire & Georgia Avenues.
New Leaf, 2006
Lisa Scheer
Bronze, granite base
8' l x 5.5' h x 4' d
Poem by E. Ethelbert Miller
About New Leaf Lisa Scheer said, "My goal is to have a mixture of really interesting references, oftentimes stemming from the sort of program or the site in which I'm installing the work. The sculpture is a sort of abstracted form, but it also looks a tremendous amount like a leaf, or something very organic and growing, and I do mean to do that because I mean to evoke metaphors of growth and change and seasonal time shifts." Scheer creates sculptures that are abstract yet infused with subtle suggestions of imagery and narrative.
The large bronze sculpture rests atop a two-step platform and is inscribed with the following poem by E. Ethelbert Miller:
every leaf surrenders to air
we dance
we flutter
we touch the earth
Lisa Scheer works and lives in Maryland and Washington, D.C. She received a BA from Bennington College and an MFA in sculpture from Yale University. Her love of expressive architectural environments has led her to create large-scale sculptural installations and public sculptures that directly integrate into surrounding architecture and landscape features.
E. Ethelbert Miller is a writer and literary activist. He is the founder and former chair of the Humanities Council of Washington, D.C. "E. Ethelbert Miller Day" was proclaimed in D.C. on September 28, 1978. On April 19, 2015, Mr. Miller was inducted into the Washington DC Hall of Fame.
New Leaf was made possible in part by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.