Outdoor art across Arkansas comes in many shapes and sizes, serving a wide spectrum of purposes.
Some of these public works honor illustrious Arkansans, for example the Scott Joplin Mural in Texarkana and the Darby Legacy Monument in Fort Smith. Some depict a locale's past, like the Hardy History Fence and downtown Pine Bluff's multiple historical murals. Some aim to provide a chuckle, to wit the Giant Budweiser Can silo near LaVaca and the Giant Humpty Dumpty in Eureka Springs.
The Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism lists several dozen locations of public art, and there are more unlisted spots. The agency's website notes that "not all art in Arkansas is located in a gallery or in an exhibition at one of the top art museums around."
"The outside walls of buildings provide huge canvases for outdoor artists to showcase their works in the many murals and mixed-media displays around the state. The peacefulness of nature is even more enjoyable when enhanced by a sculpture garden or work by a local artist. Many artists use their work as a canvas to tell stories about Arkansas history and heritage."
A 2015 restoration brought brighter colors back to the Scott Joplin mural at West Third and Main streets in downtown Texarkana. Originally painted in 1984, it portrays the legendary ragtime composer and piano player, born in Texarkana in 1867. Along with images of Joplin, the mural displays musical notes from "The Entertainer," one of his best-known works.
World War II hero Gen. William O. Darby is honored in his native Fort Smith by a statue dedicated in 2016 in downtown Cisterna Park. It depicts Darby in uniform riding a 1942 Harley-Davidson, like the motorcycle he used to travel behind the lines in North Africa and Italy. The leader of the Army's so-called Darby's Rangers, he was killed in combat in the war's last weeks.
The Hardy History Fence was updated three years ago in that Sharp County town (population around 800) by Liane Maddox, who first painted it. Among the depictions of people dating back to the late 19th century are the locally born Wilburn Brothers, Doyle and Teddy. They were popular country musicians from the 1950s to '70s.
Pine Bluff boasts a dozen murals, some in need of restoration, that have been painted starting in 1992 on downtown businesses. The subjects include Quapaw Chief Saracen, Main Street in 1888, Delta heritage, the former fire station, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, the movies, medical care and the Arkansas flag.
Just southwest of tiny Lavaca, a local farmer and beer distributor named Earl Harris had one of his silos painted in the early 1980s to resemble a gigantic Budweiser can. Located off Arkansas 22, the tower could theoretically hold 8.7 million ounces of beer -- the equivalent of 76,000 Razorbacks fans sitting in the packed stadium in Fayetteville, each holding a 115-ounce paper cup full.
Another oversize work of whimsy, weighing 500 pounds, is the Humpty Dumpty statue installed in 2010 in front of a building on Spring Street near Eureka Spring's Basin Street Park. Perched on a limestone wall and costumed like the nursery-rhyme egg that took a fatal fall, this Humpty Dumpty would make an omelet huge enough to feed a multitude.
For more information on outdoor art in Arkansas, visit arkansas.com/things-to-do/points-interest/public.
Style on 03/05/2019