A bronze sculpture by foothills’ artist John Mowen proposed for Grass Valley roundabout

A 7-foot-tall bronze sculpture, “Moving Within,” created by the late John Mowen, the popular artist and Nevada City gallery owner, is being proposed for the roundabout at Sierra College Drive.

The Grass Valley City Council is expected to consider the plan at its meeting on Tuesday night. “Roundabouts provide a unique opportunity to display artwork and define gateways,” according to a City memo. “The City has received a request to place (an) artwork sculpture by John Mowen in the center of (the Sierra College Drive roundabout).”

In 2009-10, the Council approved the installation of a Kurt Steger artwork in the East Main-Idaho Maryland Roundabout to honor the City’s history “by creating free-standing artwork depicting the City’s historic past,” the memo reads.

Mowen died in January. The Mowen Solinsky Gallery, whose doors opened in 2004 in a restored Gold Rush-era building, has been recognized as a model gallery, exhibiting and selling exceptional contemporary art.

“The greatest blessings of this work come from connecting to others who also feel that our passion and where we go inside ourselves with what we do in the world, is vital to the survival of the soul,” John said about his artwork.

(Photo: SierraCulture.com and Izzy Schwartz)