North Country artist donates steel sculpture to Plattsburgh Public Library

PLATTSBURGH | You may have noticed something new outside the Plattsburgh Public Library. "Limitless," a welded-steel sculpture by Peru-based artist John Kokoszka, is now installed at the main entrance alongside the library's pollinator garden. Library Director Ben Carman worked with Kokoszka to bring the piece to the library. Kokoszka, a 1995 SUNY Plattsburgh graduate who went on to study at the Wheatley School in Oxfordshire, England, has spent more than three decades making art that is deeply rooted in the North Country. Working from Butternut Hill Studios in Peru, he creates large-scale steel sculptures, paintings, and ceramics that draw on art history, community life, and the world around him. His work has been shown in regional galleries, libraries, and sculpture gardens throughout the area, including major installations at the Stone Ledge Sculpture Garden on Route 9 in Plattsburgh. He is known for ambitious, figurative steel works — pieces that reference everything from Francisco de Goya to local Plattsburgh residents — and for a commitment to making art accessible to the communities he lives and works in. He began "Limitless" around 1990, completed and repainted it earlier this year, and donated it to the library with a dedication to the people of Plattsburgh. The sculpture sits alongside the library's pollinator garden, planted in September 2025 with a grant from the Clinton County Soil & Water Conservation District and design support from CCE Clinton County and Cook and Gardener. Three additional works by Kokoszka are currently on display in the library's first-floor reading room. For more information, contact the Plattsburgh Public Library at 518-563-0921, pplinfo@cityofplattsburgh-ny.gov, or visit plattsburghlib.org.

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North Country artist donates steel sculpture to Plattsburgh Public Library

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