ART IN PROGRESS | Creating Works that Resonate

In response to the Project Core Team's interest in artwork that acts as a landmark, artist Anitra Blayton design acts as a symbol of harmony and positivity. Inspired by the wetland and patterns of organisms in the environment, including footprints of visitors which become one with the ecosystem, Blayton proposes a larger-than-life hummingbird appearing to drink water. The mirrored stainless steel faceted bird will have a series of five wings on each side detailed with laser cut shoe treads submitted by community members that together mimic the wings' rotation. Including the conical water shape, the sculpture will stand 23' tall and just over 24' at its widest point.

A Sculpture Selection Process will allow a Project Core Team to review and select individual sculpture(s) from those presented by Curator Dennis Nance. Purchasing existing sculptures from Texas artists will move the project directly into implementation (acquisition, delivery and installation), and it will also allow works by Texas artists that may not be available via the commissioning process to become part of the Fort Worth Public Art Collection.

A new public art project along Chapel Creek Boulevard from White Settlement Road to Old Weatherford Road associated with 2018 Bond Program improvements.

Artist Elizabeth Akamatsu's Final Design titled Rising Strong is inspired by the Diamond Hill area's family legacy. The sculpture celebrates the community through the concept of planting a seed, setting roots, and growing a bountiful life. The proposed stainless steel sculpture includes flowers inspired by Diamond Hill's namesake and will reflect the colors of its surroundings. The artwork sits upon a concrete platform and is intended to act as a landmark for the neighborhood.

This sculpture will transform a civil rights-era bus into a public artwork that connects the struggle for equal rights and justice from a national narrative to a local one, highlighting connections between the two. Aluminum panels within the bus shell will focus on Willis Pace - Fort Worth's first black city bus driver, Montgomery Bus Boycott, Freedom Riders, and Desegregation Bussing. Additional panels will feature the Lenora Rolla Center, Grand Theater, Baker Chapel, and Ella Mae Shamblee Library, as "stops" and all play key roles in telling the area's story.

A new public art project associated with improvements made to Eugene McCray Community Center as part of the 2014 Bond Program.

Entitled Fabled, this Preliminary Design draws upon the library's role as a teller of stories and stories as creators of place. Composed of long, rectangular, slender wooden and glass rods that appear to be descending from the ceiling, the artwork steps off the form of a pillar captured in the act of assembling itself, representative of the stories already in place and the assembling of new voices of community members who have not yet been born or arrived here. Elements are intended revealing digital content, text and images. Likened to a deck of cards, the layered content elements will shuffle to create a variety of combinations over time.

Fire Station #26 is seen as a gateway between commercial and residential areas in this community. After spending 50 hours during a micro-residency with the firefighters, artist Julie Lazarus learned of the personal importance of the firefighters' helmet and its reputation as a "badge of honor." Her Final Design includes three series of helmets, each uniquely patterned, to represent the various personnel on each shift (A, B, and C) at the station. The helmets will be a combination of mirrored and brushed stainless steel. The work will be lit at night with an ultramarine blue colored light, echoing the color of the firefighters' trucks.

Titled Splash-Over, Marshall Harris's design is intended to pay homage to water as an integral component of firefighting. The proposed stainless-steel artwork will stand nearly 20 feet tall, creating a stylized waterspout as if shooting from an invisible nozzle. The surface of the structure will be finished in an undulating swirl pattern, catching and moving reflected light patterns. The structure sits atop a concrete platform to allow for low profile lighting and simultaneously elevate the artwork to a position of high visibility and prominence. Words taken from conversations with firefighters during the artist's micro-residency will be incorporated around the raised platform.

Joe Barrington's Final Design, entitled Cowtown Dalmatian, is a larger-than-life longhorn. The proposed stainless steel sculpture with splatters of silver and bronze spots is intended to reflect the area's rustic aesthetic and echo its western heritage. Inspired by a micro-residency with the Fort Worth Fire Department, the longhorn stands atop a native limestone rock facing the City which references the department's commitment to serving as a guardian to its citizens.

A new public art project associated with improvements at the Handley-Meadowbrook Community Center as part of the 2014 Bond Program.

A new public art project associated with 2014 Bond improvements at Heritage Park.

This public art project is associated with the 2018 Bond Program provides an opportunity for an artist to create a unique, artistic experience along Horne Street near the intersections of Libbey Avenue and Humbert Avenue. The two neighborhood streets are separated by 0.1 mile (a 2-minute walk). Overall, the participatory artwork should be highly visible from a distance, create a layered experience, and connect the present-day diverse community to the area's roots. The artwork is expected to echo the vibrancy of Horne Street's past while reflecting the 24-hour life of today's Como "Main Street."

Lyrical Strands celebrates Fort Worth's Rosedale neighborhood as an epicenter of rich African American cultural history and community by creating a sense of place and dramatic arrival. Inspired by the Southside's once flourishing music scene and the embrace of Adinkra cultural symbols come together to give a unique narrative identity to the Rosedale area.

Entitled Right Turn Only, Reigelman's artwork is a vortex of condensed traffic arrows spiral in on themselves and twirl upward toward the sky. Drawing upon the roundabout's cyclical motion, the playful artwork nods to the directional signage that will be part of the roundabout and acknowledges the rich aeronautical history found in the community. The overall spiraling form acts as a traditional symbol of growth, rebirth and ascension. Comprised of hundreds of bright blue steel and aluminum arrows, the artwork is poised to become a bold and whimsical landmark for this re-emerging community.

Artist Clifton Crofford's Final Design for West Magnolia Avenue includes three sculptures composed of bronze and glass: an acorn, a pinecone, and a magnolia seed pod. The imagery of seeds symbolizes the potential of the community and its residents to work together for future generations. Possible sites for the sculptures include the intersections of S. Henderson Street, 5th Avenue, and/or Lake Street along the pedestrian-friendly Magnolia Avenue corridor, located in the Near Southside district.

Bajuyo's One Way and Eggert's A Very Long Now encourage the viewer to consider time as linear and endless, but also as cyclical. Each sculpture's placement and rhythmic quality via repetition of elements reinforces the aspect of time in the work. These sculptures and their relationship give form to the relative endlessness of time as memory and experience circle, loop, and overlap. The work highlights the artists' understanding of our place in time and the world.

A new public art project along Meacham Boulevard from I-35W to Beach Street associated with the 2018 Bond Program. The Project Core Team has expressed an interest in an artwork that creates echoes movement through the corridor that includes reference to time.

The Preliminary Design for the underpass at North Beach and I-820 responds to the Project Core Team's interest in a gateway artwork that is bold and sparks intrigue. Merge Conceptual Design's series of bright colored "wind wheels" connect to the identity of the area and greater Fort Worth. With a total of 58 wheels made with bicycle components, the artwork will respond to the environmental elements of the site: wind passing through the underpass will push the wheels to spin at various speeds; and, light will illuminate the wheels' reflective surface, allowing tonal color shifts throughout the day.

Open Plains, a new public artwork designed by Matthew Mazzotta, seeks to bring the outdoors in by transposing a natural scene within the community center lobby. Creating a focal point for the new building, a large grassy berm creates unique seating while a small group of sculptural birds glide gently overhead in a circle, moving their wings as they float in the airspace. The playful artwork is intended to give the viewer the experience of connecting with the open landscape that surrounds the community center, which is nestled within Northwest Community Park.

Known for their expertise in incorporating native plants and grasses into residential and commercial garden design, REDENTA'S Landscape Design, LLC proposal complements Eliseo Garcia's limestone sculpture Nature's Essence and fulfills goals in the Overton & Foster Park Master Plan. The plan creates context around the sculpture inviting park visitors to engage with the sculpture via a walkway plaza and seating for observing the sculpture and the ecology in a new wildflower zone. The design creates a natural gathering space around the sculpture and provides site lines from the nearby roadways.

Artist Donna Dobberfuhl looked to Rosedale Street for the theme she has woven into enhancements along East Rosedale Street as part of the City's Polytechnic Heights Urban Village. Her large rose designs are carved directly into the brick that forms three kiosks spaced at intervals along East Rosedale Street across from the Texas Wesleyan University campus. Smaller groupings of roses in light colored cast stone adorn the low seating along East Rosedale Street directly in front of the university. A series of six metal plaques are currently in development, which will feature historic photographs from the community and will be installed onto the open sides of the three kiosks.

This project honors this heritage with a grand-scaled artwork visible throughout the park and to passers-by. The artwork acknowledges the trees by making an abstract representation of their root systems, buried within the soil, visible to park visitors. Depicted on the surface of the path that traverses the park, the artwork is a kind of imaginary x-ray through the ground, showing the intricate pattern of roots beneath it. The artists' aim is to call upon the cultural and natural histories of the Trinity River site, however, the artwork will also delight the eye with color and patterns that can be appreciated by all people regardless of their historical knowledge.

Local artist / landscape architect team Etty Horowitz and Kevin Sloan have revised their original design for the I-30 site to fit the new State Highway 121 site. Included are brick pavers, to be donated by Acme Brick, as a visual reference to the "Old Road to the West"; abundantly planted native Texas wildflowers and grasses, and large-scale Corten steel letters that spell out "Fort Worth". The new site on westbound State Highway 121 in the north right-of-way median (west of Maxine Street and east of Beach Street) offers dramatic views of the downtown Fort Worth skyline and is located just inside the Fort Worth City Limits as drivers approach downtown from the northeast and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Bill Fitzgibbons' conceptual proposal focuses on create an inviting and placemaking light sculpture that celebrates Fort Worth as well as the community in which it finds itself. The gateway artwork is expected to have ten to twelve unique light programs throughout the year.

During Gordon Huether's micro-residency, he learned that one of the officers' main goals is to be recognized as members of the community. To support that goal, the Fort Worth Police Department is actively working to strengthen its relationship to the community. The Final Design includes a sculpture which serves as a metaphor for the officers in blue lifting up the community which is symbolized by the mirror-finished stainless-steel sphere. Commanding yet welcoming, the piece is imagined as a bridge, making two become one.

Huckaby's artwork for the traffic triangle at Ramey and Stalcup in Council District 5 will reflect the history of Stop Six. The artwork entitled "The Last Train" is designed to look like a train stop. Transforming the green space into a gathering place, it will feature a reproduction of a vintage Interurban train car, painted a shimmering golden color, resting on a track on a paved plaza. Abstracted portraits of members of the community will be painted onto the side of the train. During the evening, the car will be illuminated from within with a warm glow. The artist intends the train car symbolize a type of spiritual chariot that has come to take earthly citizens to a heavenly place.

Jill Bedgood's prairie-themed mile markers designed for Summer Creek Drive will complement the artist's public artwork at nearby Chisholm Trail Park, Art + Knowledge, which honors the ancestry of the land and celebrates natural prairie ecosystems: geology, hydrology, and flora and fauna. Using some of the highly detailed, full-color original drawings created by the artist for Chisholm Trail Park, each of the thirteen (13) mile markers will highlight one natural element from the surrounding environment. Placed in the grass along the sidewalk every quarter (0.25) mile, the markers will serve as a visual reference to pedestrians along the approximately 3-mile journey along Summer Creek Drive from McPherson Boulevard to Altamesa Boulevard.

In response to the Core Team's interest in artwork to reflect the importance of creative play, education, and community building, artist Blessing Hancock proposes a figure-eight-like sculpture with curvilinear details that come together. The painted metal surface of the artwork will display colorful patterns that convey the action and movement of the recreational activities surrounding the piece. Bands with language collected from the community will be included. The theme of the language will revolve around the past, present and future dreams of visitors to the park.

Artist Karla Garcia's design is inspired by migration and the natural landscape. Garcia chose to reimagine the dandelion, which is known as a wide spreading seed flower. Transforming the distinct "T-shape" clusters of the plant, the proposed sculpture includes instead a series of cattle horns that create a sense of repetition and movement. The resulting larger-than-life mirrored stainless-steel sculpture becomes a symbol of the legacy and history of the area while reflecting today's community as one. The design's reflectivity is intended to create interest from afar while connecting to viewers directly up close.

The Final Design for the Universal Playground at North Park is inspired by the universal symbols of bells and trees: bells provide solace and signify a time for fellowship; trees represent spiritual nourishment, growth, and strength. Listening Trees is a series of interactive musical sculptures created with colorful brass funnels, bells, and wind chimes. Each work will naturally resonate and amplify the sounds of both added elements and the natural soundscape of the park.

The City of Fort Worth is currently having significant community conversations regarding racial equity in our city. In response to a citizen's concerns regarding the depiction of African-Americans in the 1936 mural on the facade of the Will Rogers Memorial Center Auditorium (section depicted above), a committee has been formed to provide insight on the addition of thoughtful, on-site interpretative information for viewers.