Troy City Council and friends unveiled the “Kmart Head” or as more properly known, Michael Aryton’s Reflective Head, at its new home on the Civic Center. Posing with the sculpture are, left to right, Dr. Jacob Nyenhuis, Troy Council members Jeanne Stine, Christina Broomfield, Louise Schilling, and David Lambert, and resident Len Bertin, who fought to get the sculpture up.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
For more than two decades, Michael Ayrton’s Reflective Head” graced the front entrance to Kmart’s World Headquarters on Big Beaver Road. Then the powers-that-be decided it was time for a change.
The “head” was donated to the city, and sort of slipped from the radar once a former council discovered it cost (money) to install it.
It was (2004) that Troy Real Estate and Development Director Doug Smith called Barton Malow– the contractor (that built) the Troy Community Center – and asked: Do you have our head?
It took a bit of asking around the company, but, indeed, Barton Malow was storing the Reflective Head for the city. Now it would fall to Barton Malow’s Rigging Manager Jim Ellis to relocate and install the Reflective Head (at) the Civic Center, where it was unveiled Thursday (February 10, 2005.)
Mayor Louise Schilling praised Kmart, Barton Malow, Ridico, and Rossetti & Associate for helping “enable us to provide for our dreams of displaying important artworks on our Civic Center for the public to enjoy. . . .The city is at a crossroads, and so it is fitting for the Reflective Head to be placed at a crossroads.” You’ll find (the sculpture) at (the intersection of) Troy Center and Town Center Drives.
Reprinted with permission from the Somerset Gazette, February 14, 2005
To commemorate the City of Troy’s 60th Anniversary in 2015, we will publish a different story each day that highlights a person, discovery, or event that occurred locally, regionally, nationally, or even globally between 1955 and 2015 and that helped shape our lives and our community. We will try to post stories on important anniversary dates, but we also realize that dates are less critical than content and context. We will include the facts related to controversial stories, allowing our readers to form their own opinions. We invite you to read and comment on the stories. Your suggestions for topics are also welcome and can be posted on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/TroyHistoricVillage. You can also email stories or ideas to the 365 Story Editor at ed@thvmail.org.
