Citygarden
Igor Mitoraj’s sculpture Eros Bendato (that wonderful giant head) is one of the landmark sculptures here. In nice weather, sit and watch: Not a moment will pass without someone peeping out of one of the hollow eyes (and not always a kid). Every piece here is its own sort of landmark. Even if you can’t bring the title or the artist’s name to mind, you probably know it visually—for instance, Erwin Wurm’s Big Suit or Tom Claassen’s Untitled (Two Rabbits). Jim Dine’s Big White Gloves, Big Four Wheels explores the distance between Disney’s Pinocchio and Carlo Collodi’s original, spookier story; it’s thematically echoed by Tom Otterness’ darkly comic Kindly Geppetto, which depicts the carpenter as a cartoony figure taking a swing at Pinocchio’s head with a mallet. World-class abstract sculpture also abounds here, including Mark di Suvero’s monumental Aesop’s Fables (above), which now serves as a visual connector to Richard Serra’s Twain, a work that stood alone on the Gateway Mall for years, marooned and misunderstood. Another main point of interest: the 14-foot-long video wall, which screens films, photography, and Cinema at Citygarden, a springtime series of juried shorts from local filmmakers. (And if you have an iPhone, be sure to download the free Citygarden app before you visit; you can find it and more info at citygardenstl.org.)
Laumeier Sculpture Park
You can approach Laumeier as a series of surprises and mysteries—tie your shoelaces tight, put your dog on a leash, and lose yourself in its 105 acres. Or explore it as a tourist, plotting out what to see before you go. Internationally revered for its world-class collection—with pieces from such artists as Niki de Saint Phalle, Donald Judd, and Beverly Pepper—Laumeier is still as pioneering as it was when it was incorporated in 1977. The permanent collection began with 40 pieces donated by sculptor Ernest Trova, and his presence here includes the 1974 COR-TEN sculpture Profile Canto IV, as well as Falling Man/Study (Wrapped Manscape Figure) (right). One of the park’s best-known and best-loved pieces is Tony Tasset’s Eye, the giant fiberglass eyeball that’smodeled after one of the artist’s own eyes. (It’s also, we’re guessing, the backdrop for a thousand selfies.) Other pieces, like Dan Graham’s Triangular Bridge Over Water, are tucked in the woods. And some are essentially invisible, such as Eric Hall’s SITE/SOUND, a series of aural portraits of the sculptures composed by St. Louis musicians, which you can hear via smartphone by downloading the tour from laumeier.org. There’s more in store: Next year, the park is scheduled to open its $4 million Adam Aronson Fine Arts Center, and it plans to renovate the site’s 1917 Estate House into the Family Education Laboratory for Art.
Chesterfield Central Park
Chesterfield Arts, one of the most active arts nonprofits in the county, has been around for two decades. In that time, it’s placed $5 million’s worth of public art throughout Chesterfield, with quite a bit in Central Park. One of the best-known pieces is J. Seward Johnson’s The Awakening (right). Seventy feet long and 5,700 pounds, the five-piece aluminum sculpture is meant to look like a bearded giant struggling to free itself from the earth. (It not only attracts kids, who love to climb on its enormous hands and knees, but also has become a popular wedding spot.) The park has two 9-foot stainless-steel Trova sculptures, too, Gox A and Gox AB (Gox No. 3 can be found at Laumeier), as well as Maura, a figurative piece by Don Wiegand. The latter statue, a bronze figure of a running girl mounted on a stone base in the shape of her shadow, was dedi- cated on June 26, 1999, at 10 a.m., and its shadow lines up with its stone counterpart on that day every year. This past September, Chesterfield Arts also dedicated Aspire, an interactive sculpture by Rod Callies and the first winner of the organization’s new University Sculpture Competition. Comprising four massive steel spires painted white, the piece can be found alongside the Stream Walk by Chesterfield Amphitheater.
Shaw Park
Trova made his home in St. Louis County, so it’s appropriate that you’d find the sculptor’s work in the county seat’s oldest and largest park. Though Shaw is a recreational park, it’s also home to some carefully chosen public art. The most recent acquisition is a site-specific piece by nationally recognized sculptor James Surls, an 18-foot-tall, stainless-steel and bronze sculpture titled Molecular Bloom with Single Flower (left), which celebrates the immediacy of nature. Though it’s the newest, most visible piece in the park, there are rewards in seeking out other pieces here, including Rod Baer’s brightly colored Dancing Chairs (facing the School District of Clayton Administration Building), Carol Fleming’s gorgeously ancient-looking Egg (in the Sensory Garden), and that Trova piece, Geometric Abstract No. 2, located in the Moneta Garden.
Grand Center’s Pocket Parks
Strauss Park
Located in the middle of Grand Center’s bustle, Strauss Park is named for late arts patron Leon Strauss. (His bronze bust is here, facing Fox Theatre, which he helped save.)
PXSTL
The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts teamed up on a cutting-edge take on the pocket park with PXSTL, a competition that calls for proposals for temporary installations for the two empty lots at 3713 and 3719 Washington; the first piece is a canopied structure designed by Freecell Architecture, Lots, which opens to the public on May 9.
Ellen Clark Sculpture Park
Located on the corner of Lindell and Grand boulevards, a spot that doubles as a public-arts destination and free unofficial dog park.
By Jeannette Cooperman, Christy Marshall, Jarrett Medlin, and Stefene Russell
