MUSKEGON, MI – As residents drove down Shoreline Drive in downtown Muskegon this week, they could hardly miss the giant copper-colored circle erected on the west side of the highway.

The “PORTAL” is a 45-foot circle made of Corten steel constructed by local artist Lee S. Brown. It weighs approximately 25,500 pounds.

The art sculpture is the eighth of ten works planned as part of the Muskegon City Public Art Initiative.

Judy Hayner, who led the initiative, posted on Facebook this week to inform residents about the sculpture.

“Muskegon’s industrial heritage is also part of the inspiration for this piece, which stands in an area that was part of our logging era and our foundry and heavy industry era,” Hayner said in a statement.

“The site not only overlooks Muskegon Lake, where there were several sawmills, but is also in the same neighborhood where Continental Motors was founded in 1905 and the Lakey Foundry in 1914, flagships of Muskegon’s smokestack industry in the first half of the 20th century.”

Related: Muskegon’s latest $316,000 art project is a “portal” to the city’s past and future

Sealed Power, founded in 1911 as The Piston Ring Company, also built its new headquarters at this location in 1988 and changed the company name to SPX.

SPX builds piston rings for Continental Motors, also of Muskegon. Founded in the early 20th century, the two companies once served Michigan’s burgeoning automobile industry as well as the war effort during World War I.

“‘Portal’ represents the energy, unity, love, determination and resolve that make Muskegon what it is today: a city proudly moving forward and beginning a new chapter in the life of this great community,” Hayner continued. “It also celebrates our past and perhaps symbolizes the new future that awaits us through this portal.”

Hayner said the artist’s other source of inspiration is “the courage and determination of the Muskegon community.”

“As you watch this, please remember that all of the work was done with great professionalism and remarkable expertise by the people at Versatile Fabrication, Jackson-Merkey, Belasco Electric, RAHolmes, Prein and Newhof and Soils and Structures,” she said. “Projects like this take a village, and fortunately, our village is Muskegon.”

Brown is an award-winning artist from Muskegon. His other sculpture is the “giant burning hops” that is the centerpiece of the Burning Foot Festival on Pere Marquette Beach each August.

Residents should expect work on the site to continue for several more weeks, with the official opening planned for either the end of this month or sometime in September.

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