Reaching upwards, aspiration, a higher realm of being — what better qualities to represent a university and what it is about? Fittingly, these are the qualities that Helaine Blumenfeld OBE uses to describe “Flight,” a stunning, 10’ bronze sculpture installed in front of the university library in February 2014. With funding from Riverside Health System, the Newport News Public Art Foundation was fortunate to bring a piece by Blumenfeld — ‘Spirit of Life’ — to a beautiful site at the hospital entrance, where it, too, speaks to its setting, in this case about hope, life and peace. Blumenfeld’s ties to the university go back many years; two of her sculptures are on the campus, and she introduced Leicester’s now annual Sculpture in the Garden exhibition in 2002. Photo by University of Leicester.