Art & About
Metal Sculpture Walking Tour
Come enjoy this public walking tour around Moravian Manor Communities to experience the many original metal sculptures created by resident Milt Machalek.
With 23 metal sculptures spread out around Moravian Manor Communities’ two campuses, this self-guided walking tour will lead you through our gardens, green spaces, and around campus buildings to each work of art, some with interactive installations. For an interactive experience, follow along with the audio links recorded by the artist himself! To walk the entire tour, the best hours are Monday – Friday (8am – 6pm & Saturday – Sunday (10am – 3pm).
Meet the artist!
Milt Machalek has quite a life story as a self-taught mechanic, research physicist, guest of the Soviet State, US-Russian businessman and in his later years, a metal sculptor. These unique pieces of artwork once dotted his and his wife’s farm property, but when they moved to Moravian Manor Communities, the sculptures made the move too to share with the greater Lititz community. Read more about Milt in our “Meet the Neighbors” series.
Behind the Sculptures
Artist Milt Machalek welcomes you to the metal sculpture tour.
Welcome
1. Waves, 2005
Southeast corner of Moravian Avenue
Ceramic, wave-shaped tiles in shades of aqua and green assembled in an arrangement of reducing rows that create a pattern of waves—much like wave patterns found in Chinese landscape painting.
Waves
2. Barn Star, 2018
Exterior wall of chapel along Lemon Street
Nine hand-forged, barn hinges positioned to form a star. No two exactly alike because they were made one at a time and most likely by different blacksmiths 150-200 years ago.
Barn Star
3. Walking Meditation, 2007
South Wing Entrance
Seven pairs of steel railroad spikes create a figurative suggestion of seven people walking in silent meditation.
Walking Meditation
4. Gateless Gate, 2015
Outdoor Recreation Area (Wooded Area)
Kinetic (360-degree rotation) sculpture created by modifying an animal washing grill found in the barn on the artist’s former Lancaster County farm. An old Zen poem explains the “Gateless Gate.”
Gateless Gate
5. Mother Earth Rising, 1997
2nd Avenue, Manor Greene / Hagen Haus
An iron casting, part of a tobacco drying furnace from the artist’s former Lancaster County farm. Rescued and erected because of the resemblance of a figure with face and arms rising overhead.
Mother Earth Rising
6. Sunrise, 2002
2nd Avenue, Manor Greene / Herbst Haus
Cast iron fire ring from tobacco drying furnace (“Jim’s Furnace”) with iron shot-put mounted inside to emulate a “Sunrise.” Assembly mounted on an old stone step.
Sunrise
7. Triple Bell, 2004
2nd Avenue, Manor Greene / Between Herbst Haus & Bechler
Nested oxygen cylinders cut into graduated lengths. The assembly is suspended inside welded pipe arch. A wooden clapper awaits passersby to play the bells.
Triple Bell
8. Order-Chaos, 2005
521 W. 2nd Avenue, Garden Court Apartments
Steel roller chain welded, link-by-link, into an even, sinusoidal form, which then breaks up into chaos. From other side, chaos settles back into smooth motion.
Order-Chaos
9. Heaven, Earth, Fire and Water, 2006
Courtyard between Baer Center & Garden Court Apartment (Along Lemon Street)
Weathered wooden posts hold “triads” of short and long cast iron bars, these triads representing Heaven (gas), Earth (solid), Fire (plasma) and Water (liquid), as illustrated in the world’s oldest known book the I Ching, (“Book of Changes”), the Chinese “horoscope.
Heaven, Earth, Fire and Water
10. Amish Sawmill, 2003
Corner of Lemon Street & MMC Main Entrance drive
Vintage steel saw blade from an Amish sawmill, set into a white concrete casting representing a tree trunk being sawn down the middle.
Amish Sawmill
11. Wandering the Earth, 2006
Lemon Street / Main Entrance Portico
142 “feet” (the tops) cut off railroad spikes then welded heel-to-toe into an endless loop wrapped around to form a hollow sphere…as if these “feet” were “Wandering the Earth.”
Wandering the Earth
12. Free All Beings, 2016
Founders Campus / McCloud Campus Center Lobby
Hundreds of steel chain links welded on the inside to form a hollow sphere. At one location, the “skin” has blown open. The sphere represents Earth and all the beings held prisoner, without cause, for various reasons and asking to “Free All Beings.”
Free All Beings
Sculptures #13-22 are located in an interior courtyard. They can only be accessed from the main Lemon Street Entrance Mon – Fri, 8AM-6PM & Sat-Sun, 10AM-3PM.
13. Bats, 2006
Pairs of the teeth tips from “Amish Sawmill” welded together to form “bats” then mounted on a concrete disk, as if flying out of a cave.
Bats
14. Jim’s Furnace, 2006
Cast iron fire-box of tobacco drying furnace (fits to back of “Mother Earth Rising” and also contained “Sunrise” ring). Painted steel springs are “fire” inside.
Jim's Furnace
15. Gravity, 2005
Two stainless steel cubes stacked and tipping over, the top cube sliding off the bottom, as all is about to fall, due to “Gravity.”
Gravity
16. Musical Icon, 1999
Steel oxygen cylinder, bottom cut off to create a bell, suspended inside a genuine 125–150-year-old hand-forged “tire” from a Conestoga wagon. Clapper of lignum vitae wood hangs swinging alongside, similar to Japanese temple bells. Stepping back, the assembly might appear as a computer icon.
Musical Icon
17. Aten, 2004
Various lengths of steel spring nested side-by-side inside a steel ring. The assembly rotates on a pivot, catching the sun at various angles, hence, a reminder of the ancient Egyptian sun disc, “Aten.”
Aten
18. The Sentinels, 2006
Five ribbed “ember shakers” rescued from old, small coal-fired heater stove. Stood on end, with added cast lead “heads,” these “ribbed” forms remind one of military sentinels.
The Sentinels
19. Strobed Walk, 2004
The sculptor, once a physicist who used motion- stopping strobe lights, imagined railroad spike “legs” walking, but stopped in their action by a strobe. 19 spikes arranged in a cylinder give very different images, depending on the angle of observation.
Strobed Walk
20. Tubular, 2004
Lengths of steel springs (as with “Aten” and “Impulse”) are nested, then welded, to form a hollow cylinder. Mounted on a swivel allows changing the way “Tubular” catches the sunlight.
Tubular
21. Impulse, 2004
Welded lengths of steel spring (as with “Tubular” and “Aten”) are nested and trimmed to resemble an oscilloscope “pulse” seen in a science lab.
Impulse
22. Dharmachakra, 2004
In India, Dharmachakra means “Wheel of Truth.” An old iron wheelbarrow wheel with RR spike spokes rolls up a sloped rock. “Truth” is hard to find.
Dharmachakra
The Warwick Woodlands Campus
23. Labyrinth, 2021
Tranquility Garden, Corner of Barn Owl Road & Lark Lane
Inspiration derives from triple spirals carved into the stone of Newgrange, the 5,200 year old prehistoric passage tomb built for an ancient Irish King in Ireland. This “vertical labyrinth” is a “please touch” work to accompany quiet meditation, contemplation, or prayer.
Labyrinth
