The city of Little Rock on Sunday unveiled an expanded riverfront sculpture garden with a total of 66 pieces worth an estimated $4 million.
The 5,600-square-foot addition quadruples the original size of the Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden in Riverfront Park, making way for larger sculptures.
Curved, weathered-steel barriers create a fitting aesthetic while guiding parkgoers through the lawn. From a birds-eye view, the sheets of steel form ripple, but from inside the park, it feels like they separate the garden into sections, like rooms in an art museum. That's by design, said Leland Couch, the city's parks planner.
City employees designed and landscaped the entire project -- a feat City Director Dean Kumpuris suspects is without precedent. Each piece was placed with a purpose in mind.
"For a city our size, I don't know of any place that has anything like this," said Kumpuris, who was heavily involved in the project.
The Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden was created in 2009 with funds donated by the Vogel Schwartz Foundation. Since its inception, the garden amassed 50 sculptures by 33 artists. This year's expansion -- made possible by another Vogel Schwartz Foundation donation -- added 16 additional pieces by 15 different sculptors.
The foundation -- overseen by the Vogel family --is named after Rose Vogel Schwartz and Dan Schwartz.
The city obtained the sculptures -- all of which were donated -- through a variety of ways, including some that were commissioned specifically for the garden.
Walking through the garden Sunday, Kumpuris remembered how the city came to own one life-sized sculpture of several children playing. A Colorado man purchased a house with the $165,000 piece in the yard before deciding he didn't like it. He initially tried to sell it to the city, but after some back-and-forth, Kumpuris said, the man donated it for a tax write-off.
"We're always looking," Kumpuris said.
The garden has kick-started a trend across the city, which now boasts 80 pieces of public art scattered across parks, sidewalks and buildings.
Scott Carter, the city's special projects administrator, remarked that the city's parks department employees had become experts at sculpture layout and installation.
The garden, Carter said, has already started attracting tourists to Arkansas' capital city, and there are several groups of tour guides who show people through the legion of sculptures.
Mayor Mark Stodola at Sunday's dedication ceremony read a proclamation declaring October Arts and Humanities Month and said that the next challenge is getting the word out about the park. Many people, he said, still don't know it exists.
Gina Crane stumbled upon the garden Sunday afternoon while enjoying the warm day. Crane, who lives in North Little Rock, wasn't aware of the garden until Sunday.
"I knew there were some statues down here but not this many," she said.
Robert Vogel, speaking at the dedication, said he hopes the garden can be expanded, calling it "a hidden dream" the city can be proud of.
"We're honored to be able to this," Vogel said.
Kumpuris said he doesn't have a favorite piece in the garden; he likes a new one each time he strolls through. He may be partial to one though -- Boris, a statue of his French bulldog.
The expanded garden will attract even more people downtown, but it also does something else, Kumpuris said.
"It gives enjoyment, peace, tranquility and civility to our city," he said.
Metro on 10/02/2017