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GREENSBORO -- Cups of coffee have percolated across town.

Don't plan to take a sip. These large cups and their contents have been cast in bronze.

But like a real cup of joe, they can stimulate contemplation and conversation.

Eight artists sculpted cups and saucers as part of the Coffee Cup Collaborative, a public art project honoring the city's place in civil rights history.

Monday, organizers will present the sculptures to the city.

"These commemorate the power of an individual to make a difference," says Altina Layman, project coordinator with the United Arts Council of Greater Greensboro.

The cups remind viewers that the sit-in movement began on Feb. 1, 1960, at the downtown Woolworth's lunch counter, with a young man's polite request for a cup of coffee.

The four freshman at N.C. A&T who launched the sit-ins weren't served coffee that day. But their actions led to integration of lunch counters throughout the South.

The sculpted coffee cup idea began to brew in 2005.

To make it happen, the arts council partnered with the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, under construction in the former Woolworth's building, and SynerG, Action Greensboro's young professionals group.

"We wanted to create a project that would use art to celebrate our history and educate people about the civil rights movement and Greensboro's role in it," said Liz Summers, who coordinated the project for the arts council at the outset.

Museum executive director Amelia Parker recalled Ezell Blair Jr.'s request for a cup of coffee. That suggested the theme.

A committee selected designs submitted by artists -- some professionals, some not. Sculptors John Martin and Duncan Lewis guided artists when needed and cast their work in bronze.

The $55,000 that financed the project came from Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro's Future Fund, American Express, the Bell Foundation, the city Bicentennial Committee and Nexsen Pruet law firm.

Last week, North State Monument installed six cups downtown and one at the Greensboro Coliseum. Each sculpture is up to 20 inches square. They are mounted on pedestals and have drainage holes to prevent standing water.

Installers will wait until later this year to put the eighth cup outside the civil rights museum. It's set to open Feb. 1, the 50th anniversary of the sit-ins.

Despite the wait, that location delights Charles Jenkins, a security officer at the Greensboro Cultural Center, who designed the cup.

"When I am gone," Jenkins said, "my kids and grandkids can come into Greensboro and say, 'Look at what my grandfather did.' "

Contact Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane at 373-5204 or dawn.kane@news-record.com

 

‘IN THE FACE OF STRANGE FRUIT’

Location: Lawn of Greensboro Cultural Center, 200 N. Davie St., Greensboro

Artist: Derrick Monk, Winston-Salem

“It’s titled ‘In the Face of Strange Fruit’ because of the types of struggles that blacks have had to face before and after the civil rights movement. Working in my studio, I was listening to a Billie Holiday song ‘Strange Fruit’ and became inspired by its lyrics, the emotions of the era and aesthetic qualities. The small faces of fruit shaped like music notes signify the ancestors who gave their lives for future generations to learn that hatred solves nothing.”

 * * * * * * * * * *

 ‘AWAKE’

Location: J. Douglas Galyon Depot, 236 E. Washington St., Greensboro

Artist: Kurt Gabriel, Charlotte

“It is such a powerful moment to capture: when someone realizes something just isn’t right and decides to do something about it. This thought animated my design. A cup of coffee to wake up the world to injustice.”

 * * * * * * * * * *

 ‘SPOONS’

Location: Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro

Artist: Leo Morrissey, Winston-Salem

“My sculpture incorporates three simple and recognizable images: a coffee cup, spoons, and profiles of individuals. Singularly not remarkable, together symbolically important: The cup represents the historically important sit-in, the profiles are of students (so often the catalyst of change), and the spoons represent the nature of students as individuals and as a group to stir things up.”

 * * * * * * * * * *

 'A CUP OF COFFEE, PLEASE'

Location: Greensboro Coliseum Complex, 1921 W. Lee St., Greensboro

Artist: Jay Rotberg, Greensboro

"I created the inside of the diner, with the counter and the stools. Two figures sit brooding over their coffee, each with its back to the other across the floor. The counter is interrupted in two places, divided by narrow walls that represent the structural dividing lines between the races. Such walls would be easy to overcome but would require one to turn and acknowledge the other figure. The question is: How far has the wall come down? We have further to go, beyond the lunch counter."

 * * * * * * * * * *

 'EDUCATION'

Location: Central Library, 219 N. Church St., Greensboro

Artist: Gregory B. Colleton Jr., McClellanville, S.C. (formerly of Winston-Salem)

"To visually express the oppression of African Americans within educational institutions, I utilized pencils to represent the universal tool for knowledge. I conveyed anger, frustration and pain by having the pencils aggressively penetrate the cup. On the saucer, words are written to represent the progression of civil rights and the reachable ideals of optimism, resolution and justice."

 * * * * * * * * * *

 'OVERCOME'

Location: Lawn of Melvin Municipal Building, South Greene Street, Greensboro

Artist: Rodney Bennett, Asheboro

"I wanted to not only tell the story of the Greensboro Four, but the civil rights movement as a whole by depicting what I considered some of the vital moments in the struggle for freedom and equality for all people."

 * * * * * * * * * *

 'PEARL OF EQUALITY'

Location: Hamburger Square, South Davie Street near South Elm Street, Greensboro

Artist: Timothy L. Daniel, Greensboro

"The idea of the sharp, stony oyster guarding its precious treasure came to me almost immediately as a way to symbolize the whole 'Eyes on the Prize' feeling of the civil rights struggle. The oyster's shell would represent the old status quo, and the flesh and pearl would represent the wonderful bounty awaiting those persistent enough to seek it. The flowering shape of the cup symbolizes springtime and a new beginning."

  * * * * * * * * * *

'CUP OF FREEDOM'

Location: International Civil Rights Center and Museum, 134 S. Elm St., Greensboro. The museum is under construction and the sculpture will be installed outside later this year.

Artist: Charles Jenkins, Greensboro

"I put the guys sitting down at the top of the cup, like it's a counter, and I put under them an American flag. The flag was there because they were doing it for freedom -- the freedom to sit and drink coffee, without having to worry about race."

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