More than 100 people attended the dedication for the recently completed brick wall sculpture project by Sherry Crilow, a retired Garaway schools art teacher and member of the Community Arts Council.

The village of Sugarcreek, Ohio, was looking for ways to spark interest in its downtown and beautify the community. The lasting beauty of local hand-crafted brick in a sculpture was the perfect solution.

Sherry began sculpting the bricks in a cool room at our Sugarcreek plants in January 2012 and worked through May before resuming work that August. She completed all 13 panels by year’s end. After Sherry finished each portion, our employees packed the numbered bricks and stored them until the final phase — installing the sculptures at the project site.

Thirteen brick sculptures depict a story about the Baltic, Dundee, Shanesville, Sugarcreek, and Ragersville areas, relating information about the communities, the people, and the heritage. The wall sculpture is about 115 feet long and 8 feet high, with light focused on each panel so that they can be viewed after dark. The panels include the flags of all 26 cantons — or member states — of Switzerland and feature Santa with a sleigh, Christmas carolers, a bell ringer, a Soap Box Derby car, a maypole, and the Mennonite church. Sugarcreek is known as “The Little Switzerland of Ohio” because many area residents boast Swiss heritage. The Community Arts Council logo also is incorporated in the monument.

Brick sculptures can add a one-of-a-kind look to any project and serve as a lasting monument. We, along with Sherry, hope people will notice and appreciate “all the little nuance” of color, tones, and meaning in the sculptures. We also hope that it will attract visitors to Sugarcreek.