- City:
- Edison, NJ
- Site Type:
- Art Works, Sculptures
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Started:
- 1937
Description
Roosevelt Park contains a WPA sculpture by Waylande Gregory entitled “Light Dispelling Darkness.”
“Most visitors to Roosevelt Park in Edison, New Jersey will pass by this empty fountain thinking not much of it, their attention focused on the globe perched high at the top. However, many fail to notice the evils dispelling from the center, which make the sculpture all the more interesting and relate a bit of creativity that its maker, artist Waylande Gregory envisioned when he designed it in 1937.
“Light Dispelling Darkness” was part of a New Jersey Federal Arts Project under the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The WPA was part of a federal program under the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration, designed to create jobs during the Great Depression. The fountain incorporates Gregory’s concept that light and knowledge dispels ignorance in society, and was sculpted in part from terra cotta. Terra cotta was a large industry in New Jersey and was produced locally in Woodbridge, Perth Amboy and Sayreville during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The sculpture also honors the achievements of Thomas Edison who triumphed over darkness with the electric light.
Its creator, 32-year-old Waylande Gregory, was also the director of the WPA-funded New Jersey Federal Arts Program.” (www.thehistorygirl.com)
Source notes
www.thehistorygirl.com/2012/04/visit-to-light-dispelling-darkness-in.html https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/16870 https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/nyregion/long-island/19Rwpa.htmlAt this Location:
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Waylande Gregory lived in New York City but until 1938 also owned a home in Metuchen, NJ