The lower half of Lugo’s piece includes a representation of the stone walls of the prison, which still form the museum’s entrance.
The vessel was commissioned with a grant from Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development, awarded by state Sen. Steve Santarsiero, D-Newtown.
“This whole story about what this museum was, as the county jail for about 100 years, and now that it’s been reborn as this beautiful space for art is really quite a transformation,” Santarsiero told WHYY News. “And, of course, Roberto’s work tries to tell that story, and I think it does so in a really amazing way.”
As the region celebrates its role in the birth of the nation during its 250th anniversary, it’s important to recognize and remember all aspects of local and national history, Santarsiero said.
“I think part of the greatness of the founders of our country is that they understood that they weren’t completing the work either in July of 1776, or frankly at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention,” he said. “But that it was a work in progress that was going to continue to unfold, and that the point was that we were always striving to be better.”
“I think remembering all aspects of our history, the good and the bad, is important to enable us to do that, and this work is part of that story,” he added.