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La Grand Vitesse

Photo Essays

La Grande Vitesse

Appendix

There were many important contributors to the success of the Vandenberg Center Sculpture Project. Individuals contributed their time or support. Several area firms or organizations contributed their time and their staff in order to minimize the costs of the project. Some are unknown, and many have not been mentioned in this brief presentation.

Many individuals and organizations contributed to the funds to match the NEA grant and meet the additional project costs. Miner and Mary Ann Keeler were the largest individual contributors to the project, and continue to contribute to the arts, as well as other Grand Rapids endeavors, today.

Included below are the rosters of the primary committees involved in the project.

VandenBerg Center Sculpture Project Committee Members

Nancy Mulnix and Peter Wege, Co-Chairs Wesley Aves
Wallace M. Chamberlain
Paul E. Cholette
Herbert G. Daverman
Richard M. Gillett
Edsko Hekman
Honorable Stuart Hoffius
M.S. Keeler II
Robert C. Pew
L. William Seidman

Photograph Identification for the Image of Vandenberg Sculpture Committee Members and Others shown earlier:

L-R: Robert H. Fahrner, Peter M. Wege, Wallace M. Chamberlain, Edsko Hekman, Richard M. Gillett, Nancy Mulnix, Miner S. Keeler II, Wesley Aves, John Busch, Judge Stuart Hoffius.

Other committee members not present: Paul E. Cholette, Herbert G. Daverman, Robert C. Pew, and L. William Seidman.

Commissioning Panel Members (also called the Selection Committee)

The NEA grant specified that the sculptor selected be an American, and that a selection panel of art experts make the selection of the sculptor. The panel chosen included three members from Grand Rapids and three from national art-related organizations. Members were:

Robert I. Blaich, Vice President of Design, Herman Miller
Adolph Gottlieb, Artist, Painter
William E. Hartmann, Partner, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Architects, Chicago
Walter McBride, Director, Grand Rapids Art Museum
Hideo Sasaki, Principal, Sasaki Dawson DeMay Associates, and Chairman of the Department of Landscape Architectures, Harvard University.
Gordon Smith, Director, Albright-Knox Gallery of Art, Buffalo, N.Y.

Biemont Foundry Visiting Group

Members of the Vandenberg Center Sculpture Committee and the Commissioning/Selection Panel, along with spouses, visited Calder in France to get a first look at La Grande Vitesse, at the Biemont Foundry, May 11, 1968. Calder’s design of La Grande Vitesse was officially accepted by the Commissioning Panel at that time.

Those attending were:
Nancy Mulnix
Mr. & Mrs. Stuart Hoffius
Mr. & Mrs. William L. Seidman
Mr. & Mrs. Miner Keeler
Mr. & Mrs. Herbert Daverman
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Blaich
Walter McBride
William Hartmann

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