Pending contract negotiations and a final review, Asheville-based artist Todd Frahm will be paid $20,000 to create and install a bronze sculpture of a Plott hound for the new Hazelwood parking lot. 

“I’m very happy to be selected,” said Frahm, who is originally from central Illinois and considers himself primarily an animal sculptor. His work can be seen across the country and across the region in places like Johnson City, Tennessee, Suwanee, Georgia, and Chapel Hill. 

“It will be a bronze Plott hound, slightly larger than life, and will be something sort of indicative of the tenacious nature of the hound,” he said. “It’s the state dog, and its breeders developed the breed originally in Waynesville, so Waynesville is sort of famous for this dog.”

Frahm said that although his work is representational but often slightly stylized, this sculpture will “err on the side of realism.”

“I want this sculpture to be a meaningful tribute and to quietly integrate into people’s lives,” Frahm said. “I hope that kids walk by, rub its nose on the way to school or wherever they’re going, and it becomes a focal point in the area.”