In ramble my new neighborhood , one of my preferred stops is ourCommunity Center , built in a simplified Art Deco style with five bas easement sculptures along its front facade . ( They ’re sometimes scream frieze but friezes are generally higher up , just under the roof line . )
This construction , like the whole town of Greenbelt , was build in the ’ XXX and the sculptor chosen to embellish it was Lenore Thomas , who come through quite a few commissions from the Resettlement Administration during the Depression . She was give complete exemption in her selection of bailiwick for the sculpture and choose the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution . She used the worker build up this newfangled town as models for the faces and wearable show on the sculptures .
“ To form a more staring matrimony . ”
“ Establish Department of Justice . ”
“ control domesticated tranquility , ” using images of a pale yellow collector and a mill worker .
“ Provide for the common defense . ”
Finally , my excuse for writing about this here on a garden blog . “ To encourage the general welfare ” depicts expression worker and people growing and holding flowers . Not just gardeners , but ornamentalists ! vex ta say , grow gorgeous plants for sure promotes MY oecumenical welfare .
From plaque near the bas - reliefs I learned that it took Thomas and an assistant a yr to build the five sculptures . And I remark this politically wrong quote from the sculptor herself :
We want to keep the design bold and simple and sufficiently obvious so that , with the lettering beneath each panel , any working person or child can understand them .
Which makes me thankful that we ’ve moved beyond assuming that “ worker ” are dazed . Or at least admitting as much for the record .
Click herefor close - ups of these and other sculptures by Thomas here , including of herMother and Child , the centrepiece of Greenbelt ’s little townsfolk center .
