A gigantic sculpture will soon greet motorists entering downtown Annapolis. The question is whether the centerpiece of Westgate Circle should be a set of hands abstracted skyward or something resembling a gigantic red woven chair.

The Arts in Public Commission has narrowed the number of candidates from 42 to three finalists and is now seeking comment on them — one giant red chair and two options for hands held aloft.

Public comment was accepted until Thursday.

“We were pleased and thankful so many talented artists were interested,” Genevieve Torri, the commission’s chair, said in a statement.

Preference was given to regional applicants. The finalists hail from Annapolis, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. Here are the choices:

Three hands would cradle an “Exalted Heart” in Jay Coleman’s proposed bronze sculpture. “The left arm represents Family. The middle arm represents Unity. And the right arm represents Community,” Coleman wrote in his proposal. “This celebrates the notion that Family, Unity and Community are collectively needed to lift every heart and person in our Annapolis community to greater heights.” The artist also told the commission that a family of “fourth generation” Annapolitans would contribute another $300,000 to the project if their preferred design is chosen. The family’s name is redacted in the version of his proposal posted online. Coleman’s public artwork includes a giant pair of fists bumping at an Anacostia recreation center and a mural of former District Mayor Marion Barry.

Eight hands would reach upward in Cindy Fletcher-Holden’s proposed work “Bloom Where You Are Planted.” The local artist is best known for her murals, including a montage she painted on the Arundel Center last year. Earlier in her career, Fletcher-Holden painted alongside singer Eva Cassidy, who was also an artist. The aluminum alloy hands that Fletcher-Holden designed would be surrounded by native plants. “These hands speak to a human desire that unites us all: that of using all the ‘nutrients’ allowed us by our native environment, to become the strong, beautiful, self-actualized person we are meant to be,” Fletcher-Holden wrote in her application.

Georgia Tech architecture professor Tristan Al-Haddad says his design for “Symbiosis” features “two interlocking entities” of “elliptical design.” From some angles, the two ovals made from 150 metal cords resemble a red metal chair, but that perception could change depending. “The composition creates an incredibly dynamic form that is constantly shifting based on the movement of the viewer, especially from the automobile,” Al-Haddad explained in his proposal. A Fulbright Scholar who says his goal has been to straddle “the technical and the conceptual,” his work has been exhibited at High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Boston Center for the Arts and the International Contemporary Furniture Fair.

One of these three artworks will replace “Shoal,” a mixed-media work by Clarksburg artist Robert Donavan. That piece evoked the bones of a beached whale or a sunken ship, with glimmering metal fish swimming above cedar planking. But Westgate Circle — at the intersection of Spa Road, Taylor Avenue and West Street — has been bare ever since “Shoal” was dismantled three years ago. The wood was badly rotted and only intended to weather the elements for two years, not nine, Torri said.

Thus far, the Arts in Public Places Commission has set aside $50,000 for a permanent Westgate Circle installation, while the Anne Arundel Arts Council will chip in $30,000. The proposal guidelines guaranteed artists a budget of at least $150,000, including all materials, insurance costs, installation and fees, with the potential for the budget to bump up to $300,000.

The remaining $70,000 to $220,000 will need to be raised through crowdfunding, private donations, grants and additional hotel tax appropriations, the commission’s main source of funding. Artists were not required to submit their own fundraising proposals, as Coleman did.

The commission is scheduled to virtually host the finalists for presentations at 7 p.m. on Dec. 26. The meeting will be broadcast on the city’s YouTube channel.