How a 13-ton piece of public art no one wanted found a home

MINNEAPOLIS -- It was enormous, weighed 13 tons and seemed to be unmovable.

But one day in 2002, workers hoisted up and lifted away the steel, copper and bronze “Scroll” sculpture in front of the old Minneapolis Public Library at 10th Street and Hennepin Avenue downtown.

Ever since, Joe Hoover has been wondering where it went.

The old library was demolished and a new one, designed by César Pelli, rose in its place. But the sculpture, by artist John Rood, didn’t return.

“Growing up, I always liked the library and that sculpture in front, and my thought was that they were going to incorporate the sculpture [into the new library] but then it sort of disappeared,” Hoover said.

“There was no real fanfare, it was just like — nothing was said," he added. “I hoped it didn’t just go into the scrap pile.”

Hoover reached out to Curious Minnesota, the Minnesota Star Tribune’s reader-powered reporting project, to find out.

It turns out that a scrap heap almost did claim “Scroll” — but it was saved at the eleventh hour by a Rogers businessman.

‘Most controversial’ public sculpture

Installed in 1960 when the “old” public library building was brand-new, “Scroll” was positioned in a reflecting pool in front of the planetarium.

Rood’s wife, Dorothy Atkinson Rood, was president of the library’s board when it commissioned the sculpture. The Roods donated the piece, worth $50,000 at the time.

Inspired by the mid-20th century discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, an ancient collection of biblical and historical writings, “Scroll” stood 27 feet high and 22 feet wide. Its frame was covered with 54 copper sheets.

Ancient writing designs were pounded into the copper using a technique called repoussé, which involves hammering the back side of a sheet of metal. The sheets were then covered in bronze, and the scroll was cast in green on one side and reddish-gold on the other.

Rood, a professor at the University of Minnesota, had already been working on scroll-themed works when it clicked that the subject would work for the library commission.

“Suddenly the scrolls which I had been creating as sculpture leaped into a fresh significance for me,” Rood wrote in his artist statement.

“Were they not the proper symbol for a library in which is preserved and treasured the writings, the thoughts and the history of man?” he asked.

At the time, it was believed to be the largest piece of repoussé sculpture in the world. Local newspapers often featured Rood — who once created a series of sculptures inspired by his French poodle for a show at the Walker — and his work.

“Scroll” was celebrated by some, but was far from an instant city favorite. In 1974, Minneapolis Star columnist Barbara Flanagan called the sculpture “our most controversial public sculpture.”

“People either love it or hate it,” she wrote.

Making way for a new building

By the time the library decided to build a new central building in the early 2000s, Rood was far from a household name and the giant piece of public art was largely seen as in the way.

“The entire site was being demolished,” said Mary Altman, public arts administrator for the city of Minneapolis. “[The sculpture] would have needed to be removed, and if kept, conserved, repaired and relocated to another place on the site.”

The architecture firm hired to design the new library, César Pelli and Associates (now known as Pelli Clarke & Partners), didn’t want to keep it around.

The firm said it did “not wish to incorporate the scroll into the new building design,” according to a report compiled by the Minneapolis Arts Commission, provided to the Minnesota Star Tribune.

The sculpture had stood outside for more than 40 years, slowly being worn down by the elements.

Conservator Kristin Cheronis noted in the report that there was “visible corrosion on the scroll, and that there is likely corrosion on the interior support structure of the sculpture as well.”

She recommended the sculpture be demolished and the metal be recycled.

No takers

The commission looked into moving the sculpture and estimated that — if done properly — it would cost as much as $87,000 to transport it using a “specially designed contoured cradle.”

There was a chance it would become more damaged in the move.

Then there was the problem of where to move it: The Arts Commission asked the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Walker Art Center, Franconia Sculpture Park, Minneapolis Park Board, Minneapolis Board of Education, General Mills art collection, and the Weisman Art Museum if they’d like to adopt the scroll sculpture for their collections.

All of them declined.

The Minnesota State Fair, the University of Minnesota Public Art program, and the Western Sculpture Park in St. Paul said they were interested in taking the scroll sculpture if the library could pay the estimated costs.

The library declined that offer.

The last step was to ask what the artist wanted. Rood died in 1974, so the Minneapolis Arts Commission reached out to his closest living relative, Mary A. Mitchell of Connecticut, his stepdaughter.

In a letter dated May 24, 2002, she wrote: “Whatever decision your architect comes to … is certainly acceptable to me.”

And so the scroll sculpture was set to be demolished, a piece of Minnesota history lost to the scrapyard.

A new home

When demolition company F.M. Frattalone took over the site, the project manager told the press that they were “open to all offers” for the artwork.

A last-minute intervention came from Rogers-based Veit, a specialty contracting and waste management company.

The company teamed up with St. Cloud-based Landwehr Construction and Frattalone to save “Scroll” and rehome it at Veit’s headquarters in Rogers.

To move the massive sculpture, Frattalone workers first broke it loose from the foundation.

Then, workers with Landwehr rigged and hoisted it onto a Frattalone trailer, which took it to Veit’s headquarters and offloaded it onto a new prepared foundation.

The move and reinstallation cost about $15,000, CEO Vaughn Veit said at the time. He felt that there was value in installing the artwork as a kind of company symbol, since it was inspired by the Dead Sea Scrolls.

“It’s a reminder to our people of what it’s all about ― that God is the answer to everything in this world and that we’re only here for a very short time,” Veit told the Star Tribune in 2003.

“The Scroll” still stands there today, more than 20 years later.

It doesn’t quite look like a scroll from far away. But visitors can see it up close at the company’s entrance off Interstate 94.

Owner Veit saved the sculpture because he has “a profound appreciation for the preservation of historical artifacts,” the company said in a statement.