Popular Sculpture to Leave Chatham Library Lawn

She won't be outside the Library of Chathams much longer, but she'll still be digging through her purse.

American sculptor Seward Johnson's "The Search," a life-scale bronze of a woman on a bench rummaging through her purse, is expected to be picked up in late October, the Chatham Borough Public Arts Council announced Wednesday.

It will be included in a Johnson career retrospective to be unveiled in May at the 42-acre Grounds For Sculpture art park in Hamilton.

"The Search" originally was brought to Chatham in 2010 by the borough's arts council on loan from The Sculpture Foundation, a not for profit that encourages sharing art in public.

During its time in Chatham, children often engaged with the sculpture and some left behind small offerings, such as flowers or notes.

Two other sculptures in Chatham—Seward Johnson's “Attic Trophy,” a life-scale bronze girl with Hula-Hoop, and Richard Jolley’s “Crescent”, a larger-than-life bronze head reminiscent of the “man in the moon”—will be staying in the borough on a one-year loan extension from The Sculpture Foundation, the Public Arts Council said in a news release.

“We celebrate Chatham Borough’s Public Arts Council’s commitment to the arts and encourage everyone to come down to visit the sculptures,” The Sculpture Foundation Director Paula Stoeke said.

"Attic Trophy" also is outside the library. "Crescent" is located in The Public Art Council’s Commuter’s Oasis in in the Chatham Train Station parking lot.

The planned Seward Johnson exhibition is expected to feature more than 100 works, including a towering, 26-foot-tall, 36,000-lb. Marilyn Monroe from his Icons Revisited series.