NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE LIBRAY RECEIVES STATUTE

by Jane Eklund, Public Information Officer
NH Division of Arts
(603) 271-0791 · www.nh.gov/nharts/

“Diora,” a 600-pound stone sculpture by Gary Haven Smith of Northwood, N.H., was installed on the lawn of the N.H. State Library on September 15, 2008. The N.H. State Council on the Arts, through its Percent for Art program, commissioned “Diora” in 2006. A curving, abstract form that suggests both a dancing figure and a double helix, the piece takes its name from diorite, the type of granite from which it is made. The sculpture’s cut-out center is covered in gold leaf, echoing the gold leaf on the dome of the nearby State House.

Smith is a State Arts Council Lifetime Fellow. A graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Smith has shown his work throughout the United States, Japan and the Netherlands. His sculptures can be found in public and private collections, including the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, N.H., and the Thorne-Sagendorph Gallery in Keene. “Diora” is the fourth public artwork Smith has created for the State. He works primarily with granite, most of which comes from New Hampshire.

State Librarian Michael York, Artist Gary Haven Smith, Commissioner of Cultural Resources Van McLeod