A tour of bronze garden sculptures -- rain or shine --will benefit community theater

By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
STANDING NEAR THE BRONZE sculpture of the late jazz artist Louis Armstrong playing his horn, one can almost hear trumpet strains of "When the Saints Go Marching In."
The sculpture "American Jazz" by E.E. Hlavka is one of many nestled among the colorful flowerbeds and meticulously manicured lawns at the Bob and Karen Sebo home.A tour of the Sebos' garden collection "Sculpture in Bronze" will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The Sebo home is at 1790 Quaker Lane, Salem.
The Western Reserve Brass Quintet will play during the tours, and visitors will be served refreshments on the home's terrace.
The event is a benefit for the renovation fund of the Salem Community Theatre. Tickets are $10 at the gate, and tours will take place rain or shine.
On the lawn near the terrace is "Crack the Whip," sculptor Joe Saylor's tribute to the Winslow Homer painting "Snap the Whip."
Gloria Dunnam Bayowski of the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown will be on hand to provide information about the sculpture.
Homer's "Snap the Whip" is part of the Butler collection.
Salem High School drama, speech and art students will be stationed at each sculpture to provide information about the sculpture and the artist.
The students visited the Sebo home Thursday to rehearse for Saturday's tours.
Reminder
Some students said the sculpture "Twin Eagles" by Gerald Balclar immediately reminded them of the twin towers of the destroyed World Trade Center in New York. The sculpture is a mirror image of two bald eagles in midflight.
The sculpture "Patriots" by Reed Jensen is of a group of children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Karen Sebo said she and her husband have collected the sculptures from various places over the past seven years. Friends in Colorado gave them an appreciation for works in bronze, she added.
There are elegant, life-size pieces of young women such as "A Garden Walk" by Ramon Parmenter and "Celebration" by Gary Alsum, but also one of a whimsical pig by Sandy Scott called "Eat More Beef."
Sebo said although they discover the pieces by chance, there's a story behind the selection, and each piece is chosen with a particular setting in mind.
She said she and her husband don't go in search of specific pieces, but during their travels, the sculptures "somehow manage to find us."
tullis@vindy.com