Jun 24, 2021

Eighth annual sculpture walk brings art to downtown St. Joseph

Posted Jun 24, 2021 11:00 AM
Courtesy city of St. Joseph.
Courtesy city of St. Joseph.

BY MATT PIKE

St. Joseph Post

New sights are in downtown St. Joseph as the Allied Arts Council presents the 8th annual sculpture walk this summer.

Executive director Theresa Fankhauser says the idea for bringing public art to downtown St. Joseph came to her on a trip to South Dakota, walking around other towns and seeing sculptures all around.

"I brought that idea back, the Allied Art Council did some strategic planning, like where do we want to go? What can we do to further our mission of bringing arts and people together?" Fankhauser said. "So, the council said that public art was an avenue that we wanted to pursue."

The sculpture walk brings 21 sculptures on display throughout downtown. The sculptures will be featured through next May.

Fankhauser says there are many ways to locate these art pieces.

One way is a brochure with a map that you can find located around downtown St. Joseph, but another way is an app called Otocast.

Fankhauser says that when you download this app and search St. Joe Sculpture Walk, you will find one unique feature.

"As you walk you open that app and as you walk from sculpture to sculpture, you will actually get to hear the artist speak about their work," she explained.

Fankhauser says the Allied Arts Council spreads the word all around about the sculpture walk, and it brings people from all over, which in turn helps St. Joseph.

"We get people coming up from Kansas City, from Gladstone, from Atchison, and then also from Maryville and Cameron just from all over, because they hear about what we're doing and they want to see it and be a part of it," Fankhauser said. "Which is also an economic driver, because they do go into our shops and our restaurants and spend their money here, which is ultimately what we all want."

For more information about the sculpture walk, including a downloadable version of the brochure with a map of where sculptures are located downtown you can click HERE.