Odyssey

In 2020, the City of Portsmouth NH acquired a red granite sculpture, Odyssey, by Richard Erdman in VT and installed it as centrepiece of the Prescott Park formal garden fountain in honor of Michael Warhurst who tended the park gardens for 43 years.

The nonprofit Portsmouth NH group Friends of Prescott Park raised the $100,000 and group president Charles Lassen previously said about 150 donations contributed to meeting the financial goal. The granite sculpture, made by Vt sculptor Richard Erdman, is titled “Odyssey - the journey of life.” The sculpture is carved made from a 5-ton block of Italian madora red granite and weighs about 600 pounds. It stands 43 inches tall, 30 inches across and will be set about an inch underwater so it appears to be floating. “There will also be a different approach to the fountain spray aspect where the water will be made to the motion as if a light breeze is blowing over the water’s surface,” Michael Warhurst, whom the piece honors, said.

Richard Erdman was born in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1952. He studied at the University of Vermont, where he received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters in 2016. He works from studios in both Williston, Vermont, and Carrara, Italy. After graduating, Erdman traveled to Carrara, Italy, the world’s finest source of marble. There, he found, as he puts it, “worlds of possibility and wonder in the sublime beauty of ancient stone.” An early apprenticeship with master stonecarvers in Carrara grew into a 35-year relationship with family-run studio SGF Scultura that continues to this day.

Erdman’s marble and bronze sculptures are internationally celebrated for their provocative language of curves and contrast, their dialogue with timescales both geologic and human, and their gesture towards the transcendent power of natural phenomena. His work can be found in 140 museum, public, and private collections spanning six continents, and has been featured in 160 solo and group exhibitions worldwide. Notable collections include the United Nations, Museum of Fine Art Boston, Princeton University, Bowdoin College, The Rockefeller Collection, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and the Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens at PepsiCo.

Go to a video recording of the installation of "Odyssey."