Couple donates sculpture to library
By Angie Landsverk
For more than 30 years, an Italian bronze sculpture named Nina had a place in the gardens of Don and Donna Jorgenson.
Now, she has a new home in front of the Waupaca Area Public Library.
“There’s no better place than here. We’re both avid readers,” Don said of their decision to donate the sculpture to the library.
The Jorgensons have an art collection.
They have one son, and Donna said while they intend to be around for years, they want to make it easier for their son when they are no longer here.
That is why they are deciding to find new homes for some of the art they have collected over the years.
Nina, a sculpture of a young girl with a book, was one of the pieces.
“She’s reading Aesop’s Fable about the Lion & the Mouse,” Donna said. “Every time I look at her, I look at the detail in her toes and her braids.”
Created by an artist in a foundry in Italy, Don said smaller copies of the sculpture were done in resin and do not have as much detail as this one does.
The name “Nina” was part of the description when the Jorgensons bought the sculpture,
Don says the piece weighs between 40 and 50 pounds and would weigh much more if it was solid.
The sculpture is secured to a 3,000-pound granite boulder.
Don noticed a number of boulders behind Neuville Motors on West Fulton Street.
Tim Neuville told Don he could pick one of them.
“This one worked out perfectly,” Donna said.
Members of the city’s Street Department took care of getting the boulder to the library’s front lawn.
Nina, who had already been sitting on a shelf inside of the library, was then secured to the boulder.
It was the not the first time the sculpture moved.
When the Jorgensons bought the sculpture, they lived in Illinois.
They brought Nina with them when they moved to rural Waupaca and moved the sculpture again when they bought a home on the Crystal River.
Don is a retired landscape architect, and Donna is a retired elementary teacher.
They said many people are now able to enjoy the sculpture.
“The sculpture is so beautiful and appropriate. To have a bronze reader on our lawn will really enhance the landscape. We are so grateful that the Jorgensons decided to share her with the entire community,” said Library Director Peg Burington.
Don said the sculpture may be placed inside or outside of the library.
With the city planning to redevelop Main Street, he said Nina may be moved to other spots outside of the library.
“She fits in perfectly with what they want to do down here,” he said.
Donna said youngsters may sit next to her.
“At least we can still visit her,” she said. “She looks like she’s always been here.”