Wayne and Diane Littlefield of Loveland have a “Lady of the Lake” without a lake.
The piece came from a bed-and-breakfast owned by Diane’s late mother in Branchport N.Y.
“She loved ‘Camelot,” so Lady of the Lake and Excaliber, she had a fondness for,” said Diane.
Her mother, Vera Van Atta, commissioned the piece from artist Don Sottile of Penn Yan, N.Y., after adding a pond to her property.
The work is meant to be in water with the top half of a woman emerging, holding a sword. There is about 5 inches of rubber on the lower half with a hole for the piece to be put on a post in the water.
The piece is currently in the Littlefields’ backyard, surrounded by decorative stone to form a small lake.
Van Atta was an avid art collector, collecting pieces from all over the world as the family traveled. Diane’s father, the late Bruce Van Atta, was in the U.S. Navy.
Vera and Bruce purchased the bed-and-breakfast, called 10,000 Delights in 1979. They spent 10 years fixing it up before it opened. Bruce died six months before the bed-and-breakfast took in its first guest, so Vera ran the place on her own.
The Littlefields moved to Loveland from Rochester N.Y. with Kodak in 1980. Diane would visit New York every year, taking her mother back books on Benson Sculpture Garden.
Vera started to come out for visits around 1990.
“It was hard for her to take vacation (running the bed and breakfast), but she said she wanted to see the garden, she want to see the sculptures,” Diane said.
Vera started to come out for Sculpture in the Park.
“She only bought bronze from here. She collected all kinds of art, but bronze she got from here,” said Diane.
After Vera died in 2014, the bed and breakfast had to be sold. Diane and Bruce decided to buy a few pieces from Vera’s extensive collection.
“I kind of got my love of bronze from her, but I could never afford it,” Diane said.
The “Lady of the Lake” was the largest piece they bought.
“I knew what it meant to her out of everything she had. It was the most important thing to her,” Diane said.
Before bringing the piece to Colorado, the couple discussed what they might want to do with it.
“It was early on that her and I had the conversation that we wanted to donate it to the city in memory of her mom,” said Wayne. Although the couple, first and foremost, wanted the piece, they also wanted more people to be able to enjoy it.
“She didn’t have a huge clientele, I mean throughout the summer there were a few hundred people that would stay on the property. We just thought it would be cool for thousands of people to see it,” Wayne said.
As the couple started to approach various entities in the Loveland art community, Diane drove the piece back to the city in a pickup truck after the artist cleaned and packed it for her.
The Littlefields have approached galleries, Loveland Visitor Center, the city and Loveland High Plains Art Council, but have yet to find a spot for her.
The city of Loveland and High Plains Art Council had to consider both aesthetics and technical aspects.
“Some of the things we look at are safety and maintenance, in particular,” said Susan Ison,
“The other things we look at are the aesthetic value of the piece and whether it was something that was needed to be added to the public art collection,” she added.
Ultimately the city of Loveland’s Visual Arts Commission felt the piece was not suited for a public location, citing safety concerns. Loveland’s Art in Public Places outlines on its website the policies it follows.
The Loveland High Plains Art Council uses a jury process to select sculptures.
“We have a technical committee that looks at sculpture,” said Kristi Elyce, executive director of Loveland High Plains Arts Council. Safety is a concern along with if the piece can hold up in the winter and if it can withstand coming in contact with the public.
This particular work is meant to sit in the water, which also is a concern as water levels can vary in the region.
“It is a consideration because the water goes up and down, so it’s hard to know how the piece will look when the water is low,” Elyce said.
While the couple understand all the concerns, they are still holding out hope that the sculpture can find a place in the town that Vera loved so much.
“The worry we have is as we get older, moving to a smaller home, is that it won’t look right. My kids all want it but nobody has space,” Diane said. The couple has four kids, two in Northern Colorado, one in Colorado Springs and the fourth in Japan.
They would just like to keep the piece nearby for both their family and the greater community to still enjoy.
If anyone has an idea as to where the piece could be placed, the Littlefields are willing to sell or donate it, depending on the interested party, to the keep the “Lady of the Lake” local.
Wayne can be contacted at summitprocess@gmail.com.
Michelle Vendegna: 970-699-5407, vendegnam@reporterherald.com
