Public art on a Friday

Last week on a bright and sunny Friday morning we found ourselves downtown, with an hour to waste and no money to spend. Not a problem! Time for a mini public arts tour...

First stop, this VERY COOL mural. It is titled "Fertile Ground" and it is a mammoth 32,500 square foot project on the side of the Energy Systems building downtown. The detail is amazing. We felt pretty small standing next to it! Go here to see a really neat time lapse video of the project taking place.


























Next, onto the newly opened Peter Kiewit Foundation Sculpture Garden at the Joslyn Art Museum.


There are traditional bronzes, like this larger than life Sioux warrior on his rearing horse.
















There's a reflecting pool. We stood and reflected, in our minds, in the picture. (of course, we failed to reflect that it is
actually a topographical map of a section of the Missouri River... next time...)


















Our favorite, however, had to be this whimsical sculpture of this pioneer family, journeying in their covered wagon. (if you look at it from the back, you'll see two kids, one sister trying to push her brother out of the wagon! "Are we there yet?" :-) Doesn't it remind you of the Timbertoes? This sculpture had just been placed in the garden the previous week, so there was not yet any plaque for the title or artist of the work.








And just as if choreographed to end our public arts morning, this car drove by. (note~ the driver DID NOT take this picture! My front passenger seat photographic assistant did, in lickety split time!) The photo does not do justice to this previously-a-hearse-now-public-art vehicle! Trust us! It was something else!

So, if anyone tells you that the midwest is void of public art and boring, they are not trying very hard!! Take our word for it!