Public Art Saint Paul Presents:
The Second Annual Western Sculpture Park Festival
Saturday Sept. 15, 12:00-5:00 p.m.
Free and open to the public
SAINT PAUL, SEPT. 14, 2012 — Saint Paul’s Western Sculpture
Park expands on Marion Street between University Avenue and I-94, amid
apartment buildings and just west of the Minnesota State Capitol. The park is home to sculptures by leading
mid-career American artists and the city’s most densely populated and diverse
neighborhood.
On Saturday, September 15, from
12:00 – 5:00 p.m., artists, community members, and festival-goers from around the Twin
Cities will come together to celebrate and make art together at the second
annual Western Sculpture Park Festival. The Festival will feature interactive
art activities, sculpture tours, and a cabaret.
Festival Art Action from 12:00
– 4:00pm will feature art making with photographer Wing Young Huie; sculptors
Lourdes Cue, Mary Johnson, John Hock and Amy Toscani; muralist Sara Udvig; and
mixed-media artists Mary Rivard and Terry Williams. Jamal Abdur-Salaam will
lead a bucket-drumming circle and face painter Janelle Doyle will create
transform smiling faces to artworks. Music throughout the day will be provided
by McNally Smith College of Music. Public Art Saint Paul’s mobile kinetic
sculpture/mobile art lab PASPider will perform its spidery dance!
The Festival Cabaret, from
4:00 - 5:00 p.m. will feature singer-songwriter Heatherlyn, spoken word artist
Tou Saiko Lee with Fresh Traditions, and hip-hop group Hilltribe. Artists and
neighborhood youth will lead tours throughout the day.
Food trucks along Western Sculpture Park’s Marion
Street entrance will sustain festival goers with a variety of treats through
the day.
Getting there: Western
Sculpture Park is located on Marion Street between I-94 and University Avenue,
directly across the street from Sears.
It is served by Metro Transit
Route 94 express line, which stops at the corners of Marion & Ravoux and
Marion & Aurora; and by Route 16, which stops at the corner of University
& Marion.
Handicapped parking will be
available at the park entrance on Marion Street. The park is fully handicapped
accessible. American Sign Language and
multi-lingual interpreters can be provided if requested on or before Friday,
September 7. For accessibility questions, or to request an interpreter, contact
Emily Weber at 651-290-0921, or emily@publicartstpaul.org.
Public
Art Saint Paul’s continuing commitment to Western Sculpture Park
Since the re-designed park opened in 1998,
the non-profit Public Art Saint Paul has produced a display of sculpture by
leading mid-career American Artists.
John Hock, artistic director of Franconia Sculpture Park, serves as the
exhibition curator. Currently 13
artworks are exhibited, on loan from artists coast to coast.
The park is anchored by a 70-foot kinetic sculpture by the eminent
American artist Mark di Suvero: Grace à
Toi (Homage à Michel Guy). di Suvero
was awarded the National Medal for the arts by President Obama in 2011, the highest award given to artists
by the United States Government.
“The sculpture exhibition was our response to
the initiative of neighborhood residents and artists," Says Public Art Saint Paul President Christine Podas-Larson, "They approached us to give this park, in the
heart of a densely populated neighborhood, a purpose. They wanted it to be a safe place for
community gathering and for creative activity.
We have kept it going for 14 years.”
The park is a story of the
vision and determination of the local Fuller Aurora Neighborhood Association;
it is credited over the years with increased civic attention to larger
neighborhood needs and public safety, improved housing conditions, and public space
improvements and new confidence among residents and property owners. In a neighborhood that is home to an
increasingly diverse population, art has become a common language.
Each summer, Public Art Saint
Paul produces a series of highly popular free public art workshops for young
people of the neighborhood through a mobile art lab: the PASPider, created by
sculptor Christopher Lutter-Gardella.
With thanks: The Western Sculpture Park Festival is produced
in partnership with Saint Paul Parks and Recreation and is made possible with
support from the R.C. Lilly, Elmer and Eleanor Andersen, and Sage Cleveland
Foundations, contributors to Public Art Saint Paul's program fund, and by the
voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support
grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural
heritage fund.
For additional information, contact:
Media Relations / Public Service Manager
Brad Meyer at 651-266-6377 (office) or 651-894-3258 (cell)
About Saint Paul Parks & Recreation
Saint Paul Parks and Recreation is a nationally accredited and gold medal award-winning organization that manages more than 170 parks and open spaces, an AZA accredited Como Park Zoo and Conservatory, 25 city operated recreation centers, 4 municipal golf courses, more than 100 miles of trails, an indoor and outdoor aquatic facility, a public beach, a variety of premium sports facilities, and Great River Passage - which is the new identity for all public development along Saint Paul's more than 17 miles of Mississippi riverfront. For more information about Saint Paul Parks and Recreation visit www.stpaul.gov/parks. | 
