A reception will be held this Sunday at the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph to officially celebrate the installation of a sculpture on loan from a local congregation.

Enid Goldstein is a member of Temple B’nai Shalom and commissioned Lion of Judah in honor of her father. The piece, a life sized lion, was featured near the entrance of the temple in Benton Harbor for decades before the congregation sold its building with plans to relocate.

“The Lion was there for about 50, over 50 years,” Goldstein said. “I commissioned the Lion in early 1974, I think. He made his debut in June of 1974.”

Goldstein says Lion of Judah was made by artist John Kearney entirely out of car bumpers because her father worked with scrap metal and admired similar art.

“Chrome auto bumpers. And according to Harold Haydon, who was the art critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, Kearney needed bumpers from about 50 cars to make a small goat and five tons to make a 1 ,000 pound horse.”

The lion is about 400 pounds. While the temple is in transition to a new building, Goldstein says the Krasl agreed to take the sculpture for a limited period of time. It’s organized a gathering from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday to honor the sculpture and its new role as an ambassador of sorts between Benton Harbor and St. Joseph.

Everyone’s invited to “Lion on Loan” on Sunday, and the event will include ice cream and music from pianist David Lahm, son of the famous Dorothy Fields. You can learn more right here.