By Patrick McGroarty
Reporter Staff

Standing in sculptor Joe Wheelwright's warehouse studio feels a bit like stepping into the artists' mind.

The converted dry cleaning factory in Uphams Corner is cluttered with tools and treasures. In one corner sits a forklift; in another stands a freshly polished boulder, one of Wheelwright's nearly complete creations.

"These are all the things I never wanted to sell, alongside all the things no one wanted to buy," said Wheelwright to a crowd of more than 20 neighbors who gathered to hear him explain his vision for a new sculpture he was commissioned to install in Peabody Square.

Last month, Wheelwright was selected from an initial pool of 20 artists who submitted proposals to the Peabody Square Public Art Committee (a partnership between the Dorchester Arts Collaborative, St. Mark's Area Main Street, and the Boston Art Commission) for a sculpture to occupy a space near the Peabody Square clock. Wheelwright, an Ashmont resident, will now work on a design pleasing to the DAC and area residents while the Peabody Square Committee starts raising the estimated $125,000 required for installation.

To explain his vision for the square, Wheelwright led visitors on a tour of his studio. The characters that populate the room, all inspired by the human face or figure, are at turns frightening&emdash;towering tree figures and heads emerging from frozen stone&emdash;and delicate, as is the case with Wheelwright's signature series, a set of 26 palm-sized bronze moons, each with a unique name and face.

It is a nine-foot, caste bronze replica of one of these miniatures that may soon reside in Peabody Square. A final vision for the sculpture will come about after another round of public discussion and collaboration with the larger re-development taking place at the nearby Ashmont Station.

A Photoshop rendition of Wheelwright's lunar vision drew largely positive feedback from those gathered at the studio on Monday, and Wheelwright explained that he preferred an especially contemporary piece for the square because the artistic landscape in Boston is so overwhelmingly traditional.

"I love this poetic notion that no one knows what the moon is up to during the day," said Wheelwright. "I thought that placing the sleeping moon near the base of the clock would make a great image."

Some attendees agreed, though one woman felt that the statue was a bit too sedate for bustling Peabody Square. Wheelwright also noted that his work would reside exactly three miles down Dorchester Avenue from another soon-to-be installed contemporary sculpture, a 10.5 foot caste bronze Clapp pear from Somerville sculptor Laura Baring-Gould.

Survilla Smith, a Codman Square resident who attends monthly breakfasts held by the DAC, was impressed by Wheelwright's repertoire as well as the Peabody Square proposal.

"It reminds me of 'Goodnight moon,'" she said with a chuckle. "It's exciting, isn't it? For our neighborhood, we need this."

Wheelwright entered Yale in 1966 with plans of attending medical school, but soon found that he cared more for art classes and protesting the war in Vietnam than organic chemistry. After a stowaway trip to Vietnam with the Merchant Marines in 1971, he married Susan, his college girlfriend, and settled into work as an artist.

Twenty-three years ago they bought a home on Waldorf Street, where prices were low and the homes were big.

"The thing about being a sculptor is your work takes up a lot of room," said Wheelwright. "I have stuff throughout the whole house."

He says his luck as an artist started to turn about twenty years ago when, for reasons unknown, the public began buying the art he was making&emdash;mostly boulders carved to resemble human faces. He's since expanded to full figures and mediums such as woodcarving. He's also converted a house on the Humphrey Street property into studio and classroom space. Forty-five artists currently rent at the site, where he also teaches a woodworking class. In addition to his studio on Humphrey Street, he maintains a larger production facility, complete with a brass foundry, in rural Vermont.

Donna Penn, a DAC member, said she was confident Wheelwright will settle on a design that meets the community's approval.

"It's not like the artist is working independently, he has to connect his vision with people and agencies involved in the Ashmont Project," said Penn. There is no definite timeline for the statue's completion and installation, said Penn, but ideally plans would be finalized within a year.