The Friends of the Zorach Fountain are dedicated to preserving and interpreting “Spirit of the Sea,” the beautiful sculptural fountain located in Bath’s City Park. The Friends will announce a major fundraising campaign, “Invest in the Spirit,” at its annual meeting May 2.

Noted artist-illustrator-writer Dahlov Ipcar, the daughter of sculptor William Zorach, has agreed to serve as honorary chairman for the campaign.

“Almost 10 years ago, the Friends conducted a fundraising effort to restore the sculpture, which had suffered from 50 years of exposure to the harsh Maine climate, and provide lighting to display the Spirit properly in the evening,” Friends President Linda T. Wood said. “We hope that the community will be equally responsive and generous now that we must address the pond environment in which the fountain sits.”

Back in 1962, when the sculpture was first presented to the City of Bath by the artist, and the Bath Garden Club, it was already evident that the shallow pond would benefit from a frame or structure to support the edges and prevent run-off from the banks.

For three seasons of each year since, the pond has filled with grass clippings and phosphorus-rich mud, encouraging the growth of reeds and algae, and causing the pond to become mucky and shallow and the filtering system to clog.

The problem has grown more acute and unsightly in recent years — and in a manner that could affect the overall “health” of the valuable sculpture over the long term.

The nonprofit, all-volunteer Friends group has worked with award-winning landscape architect Bruce John Riddell and landscape specialist Mark Jorgensen (a team responsible for many of the beautiful ponds and plantings at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay) to create a plan that will solve the hydroponic problem and also enhance the park setting.

The upcoming project, budgeted at approximately $480,000, includes major excavation and engineering work and will provide a gunnite base to strengthen and buttress the pond.

“We know that our goal is a challenging one, and we are aware that the campaign might take anything from six months to two years to complete,” Friends Treasurer Betsy Harrington said. “With the support of private citizens, foundations and continuing in-kind assistance from Bath’s Parks Department, we look forward to creating something that properly showcases the Fountain and makes our City an even more beautiful place to live in and visit.”

The project will transform the grounds and pond surrounding the fountain, improve public access to the site, and better equip the organization to monitor the quantity and quality of water that pumps through the fountain, thus protecting the important and valuable sculpture far into the future.

“We could not be more pleased that Dahlov Ipcar has agreed to serve as honorary chairman for our Invest in the Spirit campaign,” Board member Elizabeth Messler said. “We consider Spirit of the Sea an artistic legacy, and our project is one that spans generations, so it is fitting that the artist’s daughter should lend her endorsement and help us to see the project through.”