Perched on a bluff overlooking the Grand River at Adado Riverfront Park near downtown Lansing is a wine-dark eagle with a rumpled, wise face and feathers that surge into the sky.
Conceived and cast to celebrate the 1976 United States Bicentennial, “Windlord” is a deft fusion of realistic and abstract forms, fabricated over a grueling nine months using labor-intensive methods that go back millennia.
The sculptor, Martin Eichinger, has gone on to have a long and successful career, but “Windlord” was his first major work — a piece of Lansing history cast in near-indestructible bronze that may outlast the city itself.
As its 50th birthday nears, “Windlord” has reason to flex its wings with more urgency than usual. The sculpture is owned by the city and managed by the Parks Department…