On Wednesday, September 23, 2015 "Clouds and Trees" by artist Elliott Balter was relocated from the triangle just north of Michigan City's City Hall to its new home at Lubeznik Center for the Arts on 101 W. 2nd Street.
"Clouds and Trees" has been on loan to Michigan City from the Lubeznik Center for eight years. When the city announced that it would soon be starting road construction projects on Second Street and on Franklin that included the median where Clouds and Trees stood, LCA worked with Michigan City Director of Planning and Redevelopment, Craig Phillips, and the Balter family to ensure the timely relocation of the piece. LCA has three staff members who sit on the Michigan City Public Art Committee and have worked with the city on several public art initiatives.
Shelley Balter, the son of the late Elliott Balter said, "Clouds and Trees is one of my favorites and it was one of my dad's favorites, and now it's on loan to the Lubeznik Center for everybody to share in it. I am pleased that the sculpture is now in it is new location where it can be approached very easily and can now be included in the programs here at Lubeznik Center".
A quote from the 2008 Elliot Balter exhibition at LCA: "As the environment of light, temperature and time changes, so to does sculpture. More than a flat, staid item on a wall, sculpture lives in our three-dimensional world wherever it is placed for all to consider at all times. Elliott Balter sought a dynamic life and found it through his sculpture."
"Clouds and Trees" was finished in 1985, is made from fabricated stainless steel and is now located on the southeast corner of the LCA property adjacent to the sidewalk - just across the street from its former placement. It is on loan again to LCA for a period of five years, until 2020.