October 4th, 2021 | Story by Gordon Dritschilo | Originally Posted in the Rutland Herald
Downtown Rutland’s newest place to sit is “No Place to Sit.”
The bench built by A. Tedesco Masonry doubles as a sculpture, and recently was installed at the corner of Center and Wales streets as part of the Chaffee Art Center’s bench project.
While other benches in the project, which are being placed around Rutland in the coming weeks, are standard benches that have been personalized by individual artists. The bench on the corner is unique, a slab held up by bent rebar on one end and an askew stack of marble blocks on the other.
“There’s no intentional statement to the bench,” said its designer, Guy Tedesco. “We wanted to get involved with the Chaffee bench project. ... After some brainstorming, putting our heads together, that’s the design we came up with. The intent was to bring something unique that would stand out.”
Tedesco said the title of the bench was borrowed from a photograph his son took when benches were removed from the downtown several years ago — a photo that won an award in a competition at the Chaffee.
Chaffee Executive Director Sherri Birkheimer Rooker said there are 42 benches, including Tedesco’s contribution. One was installed at Dr. Mark Price’s office; and another would go in at Grace Congregational Church later this week, she said.
The Department of Public Works will install several other benches around downtown in the coming weeks.
“I think they’ve been trying to work on what’s left to do before the cold weather sets in,” she said. “When (the benches) get put in, they have to be bolted into something. It’s not a quick thing where we can just deliver them.”
Downtown Rutland Partnership Executive Director Nikki Hindman said added seating was much-needed in the downtown with restaurants doing significantly more take-out business since the pandemic took hold.
She also said the “No Place to Sit” added some color to the street.
“People sit on it all the time now, which is nice,” she said. “People didn’t use the benches that were there before as much.”
Other participating artists include Helvi Abatel, Julia Quimby Cohen, Ethan Nelson, Peter Wallis, Bill Ramage and Ann McFarren.
“We had kids from Art in the Park in the summer put their hands on (a bench bound for Community Health Pediatrics),” Birkheimer Rooker said. “It’s all hands.”
Birkheimer Rooker said several benches still need sponsors and will be on display at the autumn Art in the Park this weekend.