PROJECT HIGHLIGHT | Sipping From the Wetland

A landmark sculpture at Alliance Park, Sipping From the Wetland by Anitra Blayton brings awareness to the vital role of a wetland within communities and the environment, rendering an opportunity to evaluate its value and function as well as celebrate biodiversity.

The larger-than-life sculpture is a symbol of the tiniest bird with the biggest heart in the animal world, the hummingbird, that visually narrates playfulness and vitality.  As a perfect amulet, the flying jewel personifies the poetic symbolism of the park’s universal language and all the complex patterns throughout. One might ask, why is the amulet facing downward?  It is because she has discovered a biological supermarket; she is “sipping from the wetland.”

According to Blayton, Sipping From the Wetland is a culmination of patterns both natural and man-made:

 There is a unique aesthetic between natural patterns in the environment and the contributions of the park visitor.  The visitor’s activities represent the historical permanence on a surface, a footprint that becomes one with the designs of the ecosystem.    

With this in mind, Blayton held four shoe tread collection events within the community to gather footprints for the hummingbird’s wings. Laser cut designs gathered from neighbors create a participatory element for community members during the sculpture’s creation while the resulting piece invites another type of engagement by the viewer while they stand beneath the hummingbird’s wings.

In total, Sipping From the Wetland stands 23 feet tall and just over 24 feet at its widest point. The faceted, mirrored stainless steel hummingbird includes a series of 5 wings on each side of its body to mimic the wings’ motion. All sandblasted stainless steel wings include shoe treads submitted by over 200 community members. Its bluish color pilaster is a stationary mirrored abstraction with extending hoops mimics ripples of water, paying homage to the park’s wetland.

This artwork was commissioned by the City of Fort Worth as part of its 2018 Bond Program. The sculpture will be dedicated to the city, date pending. Please check back for more details!

Local artist Anitra Blayton has given back to the community through public art collaborations, lectures, exhibitions, and through teaching for over two decades. She holds three degrees with a concentration in art including an MFA from Texas Christian University. Her work has been collected by numerous organizations including the Texas Southern University Museum in Houston, The African American Museum of Life and Culture in Dallas, and Kaiser Permanente Hospitals in Oakland, San Francisco and Stockton California as well as in nearby Arlington. Blayton continues to contribute to numerous public-facing panels and committees.