City unveils ‘Homage to Hoagy’ sculpture
July 10, 2020
Songbook Foundation noted for role in development
Great American Songbook Foundation Director Chris Lewis joined Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard and artist Arlon Bayliss on Thursday for the official unveiling of a sculpture honoring legendary Hoosier songwriter Hoagy Carmichael.
Homage to Hoagy stands adjacent to the Center for the Performing Arts campus.
Homage to Hoagy was commissioned from Bayliss by the city in 2018 and now towers above the roundabout at City Center Drive and 3rd Avenue SW, just steps from the Palladium Box Office. Constructed of steel on a base of Indiana limestone, it depicts stars, moons and musical notes – inspired by Carmichael’s “Stardust” and other tunes – bursting out of an antique gramophone horn. The 40-foot structure is Illuminated at night by multicolored LED lights.
Lewis was recognized for the Songbook Foundation’s assistance in background research and the selection of songs for two interactive kiosks that flank the statue on the outside corners of the roundabout. The Songbook Foundation inducted the Bloomington-born Carmichael into its Songbook Hall of Fame in 2016, presenting the award to his son, pianist Randy Carmichael.
The 4-foot kiosks, powered by hand cranks and topped with miniature versions of the sculpture’s gramophone horn, play songs written by Carmichael as recorded by generations of artists, from Bing Crosby and Ella Fitzgerald to Michael Bublé and Kristin Chenoweth. A plaque features biographical information.
Unveiling an interactive kiosk Thursday near the Palladium are (from left) Songbook Foundation Executive Director Chris Lewis, artist Arlon Bayliss and Mayor Jim Brainard.
“When you hear the music featured here at the Homage to Hoagy sculpture and kiosks – songs like ‘Georgia On My Mind,’ ‘Heart and Soul,’ ‘Can’t Get Indiana Off My Mind,’ ‘The Nearness of You,’ ‘Skylark,’ and of course, ‘Stardust’ – there can be no debate about the importance of Hoagy Carmichael to American music,” Lewis said. “We are proud to honor him in the Songbook Hall of Fame – and thrilled to have this beautiful sculpture here as a symbol that Carmel is the home of the Songbook.”
Bayliss, trained at London’s Royal College of Art and now based in Anderson, also designed the Beacon Bloom sculpture in the roundabout at Westfield Boulevard and 96th Street. He will be the featured guest at the September meeting of Luminaries, the Center’s weekday presentation series.
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