Earlier this spring, Green Lake Township bought a collection of sculptures from the estate of a local artist.
Now, the 14 aluminum sculptures done by Doug Gruizenga, who died last year, are in place at locations around Interlochen.
There’s a rhinoceros in front of the fire station, enormous metal flowers in the patio at the Hofbrau restaurant, an ostrich at the putt-putt course and more.
"Having an offer someone to offer you know, take them all from us was a pretty tempting offer but we ended up negotiating with them and I think it’s fantastic," said Hobie Gruizenga, daughter of Doug Gruizenga.
She said that her family loved the idea of the sculptures staying local.
"My dad lived in Interlochen because of the arts academy," she told IPR. "He loved living down the road from there, he loved going to the concerts once or twice a week. When we’d sail on Green Lake we could hear the concerts from the auditorium out on the water there."
Hobie Gruizenga remembers her father as an eccentric and passionate person. Much of his earlier sculptures were inspired by automobiles.
He worked for an auto manufacturer fresh out of school.
"Doing clay modeling." Hobie Gruizenga said. "As time went on — and I did not see this coming from him — he started doing dragons, animals ... he started doing flowers, a lot of nature stuff."
While she doesn't have a particular favorite among his collection, Gruizenga said the "COVID Love" sculpture is sentimental.
"I live out in Oregon now. I moved out here when I was about 18 with my partner at the time," she said. "He had made us two separate flowers that you could kind of put together and they would overlap each other and kind of sit together so they can sit apart or fit together."
"COVID Love" is a bigger, expanded version of that initial work given to Hobie Gruizenga and her partner, also a woman. Hobie Gruizenga said she wasn't initially sure how her father would react to that.
"And he never really reacted to it verbally in any way," she told IPR. "When he made that sculpture, I think that was part of what gave it that sentimental value. It wasn't necessarily his approval but there was that sentiment in there. It was sweet when he gave us the little versions, but when i found that he made a bigger version, I guess that held a little bit of value to it."
Hobie Gruizenga is happy that people are still remembering her father. She says the sculpture project is a fitting tribute to him.
"I think he was the smartest man I'm ever going to meet. He was the most creative man I think that I'm ever going to meet," she said. "He really just wanted to make an impact on the world. I know a lot of people say that, but for him with certainty that’s what he strove to do — to contribute to the world in as many meaningful ways as possible."
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