By JIM FARIS
The Saint Joseph Allied Arts Council has announced the return of the Sculpture Walk downtown, turning the neighborhood into an open-air gallery featuring regional and national artists.
This year's lineup, the 13th, includes 11 new sculptures, and one returning. 14 other permanent installations are also readily available to see downtown.
Executive Director of the Allied Arts Council, Jessica Agnew, adds that even if certain sculptures share materials, the method of the making keeps them distinct.
"There's several, for instance, this year that are hand-forged iron... There's this beautiful sculpture called The Fall, and the person is kneeled over and the detail of the hair and how the body is moving, and then you have something that reminds you of the old barrel of monkeys game, this statue called Monkeying Around, also hand-forged iron."
The first guided Sculpture Walk is this Saturday, starting with an artist meet and greet at 9:30, with several sculptors to meet. Guided tours will then start at 10, with additional groups starting at 10:30, 11, and 11:30. Agnew says the artist's being there adds an exclusive layer of depth to the storytelling behind each sculpture.
"If they're at their sculpture, they're going to talk about it, they're going to tell you stories. Last year we discovered that one of our sculptures was made of scraps of metal, and that he and his buddies put it together and it took three hours... To know those stories from the artists themselves would be really cool."
Visitors and residents alike can enjoy the artwork at their own pace, while shopping, dining, or attending downtown events. In addition to enhancing the area, the Sculpture walk also supports Allied Arts Council's mission to enrich the community. Agnew specifically pointed out the inspirational power for children.
"We do a program called Art is in the Schools, and one opportunity that they can do is students can come and do a sculpture. And so I got the honor of taking these little kids on a sculpture walk tour of some of the sculptures from our old collection, and it was so fun just to listen to them talk... we got to go make our own little sculpture out of Play-Doh. And the inspiration that they had from seeing these sculptures was incredible."
Everyone is also invited to vote for their favorite work of art, throughout the exhibition. The winner of the People's Choice Award will get a special recognition, and may be considered for purchase and permanent display in Saint Joseph.
The Arts Council invites appreciators to begin at the Missouri Theater, where brochures are available.
A full map of the sculpture walk, artist info, and more details can be found at stjoearts.org.
Journal