Huge sculpture set to mark trail on Belle Isle to get preview at Whitney restaurant

Two of metro-Detroit’s best-known sculptors — who happen to be brothers — are creating a massive sculpture for Belle Isle that will mark one end of the massively long Iron Belle Trail.

That’s the dual set of hiking-and-biking paths that, once completed, will reach from Detroit more than 1,000 miles to Ironwood, at the far west end of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Erik and Israel Nordin, who live in Detroit and have their studio in Detroit’s Corktown area, plan to dedicate their 8-ton glass and steel sculpture at the east end of Belle Isle State Park, at the island's tip near Lake St. Clair, “sometime in late October — we don’t have a date yet,” Erik Nordin said Friday.

But fans of sculpture or the trail or both can get their first glimpse of what the giant 23-foot-high work will look like Saturday night at Detroit’s Whitney restaurant. The Nordin brothers will unveil what they call a maquette, which is an 18-inch tall miniature of their planned work. First, they’ll host a reception for guests of honor.

“We even have the mayor of Ironwood coming with her husband,” Erik Nordin said.

After that, at 8 p.m., the event will open to the public, for viewing the maquette and taking part in an auction of the Nordins’ art to benefit Michigan Opera Theatre. Music will be provided by musicians and singers from MOT. The event will take place outdoors, in the Whitney gardens, to allow for pandemic-safe social distancing, Erik Nordin said.

The name of the sculpture, unknown until the Free Press spoke Friday to Erik Nordin, is “One World. . . Under Michigan Stars,” he said.

“The idea is people feeling like they're all together, anywhere on this trail, celebrating all the beautiful places in our state and celebrating the beautiful outdoors we all share,” he said. Framed by steel, the piece’s expanses of blue glass will suggest Michigan’s abundance of fresh water, and the funder is “a wonderful group that’s very supportive of Detroit” but which chooses to be anonymous, Erik Nordin said.

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The Nordin brothers will use the occasion to show a sculpture they are working that for Harrison Township, called the Freedom of Flight, that will honor Selfridge Field ANG Base “and all of the armed forces,” he added. 

Plans are for the bike path of the Iron Belle Trail, after leaving Belle Isle, to run north through Detroit into Macomb County, then veer west into Oakland County before continuing heading north, said Todd Scott, executive director of the Detroit Greenways Coalition, a small nonprofit group that promotes nonmotorized paths in Detroit. The Iron Belle Trail's hiking path is shown as probably heading south from Detroit through Downriver communities of Wayne County, then veering north after almost reaching Monroe, according to online maps.

“I’m excited about the portion of the trail in Detroit,” Scott said Friday, adding: “We’re going to make the Detroit section the coolest part.”

Contact: blaitner@freepress.com