The Reading Center has moved four times in its 70-year history – and has never had an official sign to mark our building. That changed earlier this spring when French born artist Sebastien Richer’s steel book sculpture was installed at the corner of Scott and Commerce St. N.W. – right outside our building.

Sebastien Richer is the owner and artist behind Richer Metal in Dodge Center, Minnesota, near Rochester. He is known for his custom pieces using metal including unique and breathtaking staircases, gates, foundations, chandeliers and sculptures. He has worked on projects around the globe as well as locally, on the Rochester art walk along the Zumbro River and beyond.

Sebastien combined The Reading Center’s motto, “Toward Literacy for All” with our logo and created a statement piece, shaped as an 8 ft tall book, sitting on its end with pages fanned out. If you look at the pages, you will even see that a page has been “dog eared,” so you can find your place. We hope the sign will help bring attention to our center and our guiding mission to help struggling students learn to read.

We are grateful to Rochester Home Infusion for their pledge to donate $50 for each photo taken in front of our sign this July. This fun campaign is helping to bring awareness to The Reading Center, but also adding a little whimsy to all of us during this extraordinary time. There is still time to participate, just take a photo in front of the sign and post it to our pinned post on Facebook here. We will share as many as we can by July 31.

Steve and Shelly Sperling (and their foundation Sperling Smiles) made a generous donation to our capital campaign and have sponsored the sculpture. Thank you Steve and Shelly!

Learn more about Sebastien:

· Richer Metal: https://richermetalcom.business.site

· Post Bulletin article: https://www.postbulletin.com/life/lifestyles/french-metal-artist-has-worldwide-renown-but-his-studio-s/article_b3358b60-4ee8-5344-97fa-c6dce4e6fb30.html