A Colorful Downtown
Several months ago, we wrote about the importance public art can have in creating a vibrant and beautiful downtown. We told you about a new public art initiative led by Grin City Collective and the Grinnell Area Arts Council to introduce four works of public art into downtown Grinnell this summer. The four artists and designs have been selected and we are eager to see the new art pieces installed in our downtown this summer.
The new pieces will join existing artwork (murals, mosaics and a small number of sculptures) in our community. Not only does public art enhance the beauty of our community, but it adds to a community's culture and identity.
Here are the four art installations that will be added to downtown this summer:
1. Artist Tiberiu Chelsea from Ames, Iowa, will gather shoe prints from community members and design a two-sided ink print on canvas to be displayed in the window of Brown's Shoe Fit.
2. Stephanie Sailer of Swisher, Iowa, will create a large-scale sculpture of a lantern plant or ground cherry to be installed in the prairie grass at Drake Community Library.
3. Wilma Wyss from Berkeley, California, will design two 3-D mosaic sculptures of endangered Iowa prairie plants to be installed at the Grinnell Arts Center.
4. Bounnak Thamavong from Swisher, Iowa, will design a custom bench for the front garden at Relish.
You can read more about the artists' plans here. There are several public events plans this spring to celebrate the public art project, starting with a kick-off event next weekend and ending with an unveiling ceremony on June 11.
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