Beauty, The "Common" Denominator - New Castle, NH, USA
N 43° 03.863 W 070° 42.736
19T E 360580 N 4769387
This silhouette art sculpture is of an artist with a frame of infinite possibilities. It is located in the Great Island Common in New Castle, New Hampshire; an island community, directly east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Waymark Code: WMH3M8
Location: New Hampshire, United States
Date Posted: 05/16/2013
Views: 8
This silhouette art sculpture of an artist painting an ever-changing scene is located in a city park known as the Great Island Common. The City of New Castle, describes it as follows, "The Great Island Common is comprised of 32 acres of seaside greenspace and beach. The park is open to the public 365 days a year from 9am to 9pm." (
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The art piece is titled, Beauty, The "Common" Denominator, and is a joint work by artists, Walter Liff and Margaret French. It was donated to the city, by the artists, in 1998.
"Walter Liff is an award-winning artist in the field of metal sculptures and custom weather vanes. Whether working with steel, aluminum or copper, each piece is carefully hand crafted, using a variety of techniques to create high quality pieces of art. His creations can be found in private and corporate collections throughout the United State and Europe. He is a juried member of several elite art societies, and has had featured articles written about his work in newspapers and magazines. He has also appeared on several television shows. Twelve sculptures are registered with the National Museum of Art, Inventory of American Sculptures; a division of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. A miniature of his Great Blue Heron in the flying position was displayed on the White House Christmas tree in 1993, and is part of a permanent collection there.
In order to capture the essence and detail of each subject, research is done on the subject and detailed drawings are made before any work is started in metal. Depending on the sculpture or weather vane, and the medium being used, the structure (or skeleton ) of each piece is carefully built utilizing individual pieces and welds. Detail is achieved by either grinding or building up welds, or by using a repousse technique. There are no molds used in any work, so each sculpture or weather vane is a unique, original piece of art; not a reproduction. This pains-taking process takes hours of annealing, pounding, welding, grinding and stretching of the metal to form each detailed piece.
An avid naturalist, Walter lives by the water on an island off the New Hampshire coast. It is this setting that provides him with many of his models for his work in metal. He enjoys the rapport he has with his clients and says they are often the inspiration for new pieces of art." (
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I could not find information online about Margaret French.
The city's website has a FAQ about the park. I thought one entry was entertaining:
"21. Are there sharks in the water?
It is an ocean."
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See the city website for general information and fees at: (
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