Chief Leatherlips Monument

Most monuments are looked at; this one can be looked out of. At Scioto Park in Dublin, Ohio, a 12-foot portrait of the Wyandot leader Leatherlips is open at the top, with stacked stones extending back along its sides to form a small enclosure with a view of the river, the sunset and the park's amphitheater, according to the Dublin Arts Council. The sculptor, Ralph Helmick, told Ohio Magazine in 2018 that visitors could stand atop the head to look out over the Scioto River valley.

The council held a commissioning process in 1988 and chose Helmick, then based in Massachusetts. Working from two hand-built models, he and a team of three local stonemasons built the work from limestone slabs set on a concrete foundation and secured with wire mesh and mortar, in about two months, Ohio Magazine reported. It was dedicated in 1990 at a ceremony attended by members of several Ohio Native American tribes. Helmick recalled a peace pipe ceremony. The council says its Art in Public Places programme began with this sculpture and today includes more than 60 works.