Community culture
Conway Public Art Board chooses musical-park design
10 CONWAY PUBLIC ART BOARD CHOOSES MUSICAL-PARK DESIGN
Public art has been popping up in the city for years, but the Conway Public Art Board has turned it up a notch with unique projects such as a musical park.
The proposal of artist Steven Parker of Austin, Texas, was selected by the board earlier this month. The $50,000 art project, Bluescycle, will be installed at Markham and Willow streets near downtown Conway.
“It’s a fabulous piece of interactive, musical art,” said Ruthann Curry Browne, chairwoman of the board. “It’s created out of bicycle wheels and brass components that can be played in hundreds of different combinations to create a piece of music. It’s pitched to the B-flat blues scale.”
The sculpture is five interconnected bicycle frames outfitted with bulb horns, bicycle bells and large music boxes, according to the proposal, and all ages and abilities can play the piece.
Parker said his art will honor the legacy of the Markham Street neighborhood and highlight Conway’s commitment to bike-friendly infrastructure.
Browne said Parker’s proposal struck a chord with board members.
“One reason we love it is it’s not only recognizing our Delta roots … but our AfricanAmerican roots … and Arkansas recording artists through history,” Browne said. “We felt like that was really, really exciting.”
Along with the primary art piece, Browne said, Parker will create an S-curve bicycle stand that also displays information about regional musicians.
“It walks us through the history of the blues in Arkansas,” Browne said.
She said the artist plans to meet this fall with residents of the neighborhood to get their input on the proposal. He will also hold workshops to teach community members how to invent and build their own instruments, possibly pulling in students from the University of Central Arkansas, Hendrix College and Central Baptist College to help, Browne said.
Browne said the Bluescycle design should be finalized by December, and it will be built by March. Installation is planned at the end of April.
“Then we’ll have a concert series that activates the sculpture for installation — christen it — and open it up for everyone,” she said.
The Conway Public Art Board is working to invite Arkansas artists and musicians to the event, she said.
Browne said the Conway Public Art Board will be responsible for getting the lot ready for the art, too.
“We will landscape the park with benches and little pathways and nice grass, leaving room in the park to add, as we go along, maybe next year … a new piece of interactive musical play, so we will actually be building our little musical park in steps, just like steps in the scale,” Browne said.
Conway real estate agent Spencer Hawks owns the almost half-acre lot, which he plans to lease to the city for $1 per year.
“I’m thrilled to be a part of bringing new life to the gateway of downtown Conway,” Hawks said.
The all-volunteer art board, which started 1 1/2 years ago with a budget of $120,000 from the city, has more ideas in the works.
The art board helped the city land the first Arkansas U.S. Fish and Wildlife Endangered Species mural. The board was the liaison between the project and the city. Board members scoured Conway and chose the west side of City Hall as the location for the hellbender salamander mural, to be painted by Oregon artist Roger Peet. The project is being funded by the Center for Biological Diversity.
However, the project is on hold because a leaky roof caused the building’s wall and the awning to crack. City Hall is undergoing repairs, and Browne said she will talk with the mural artist and tweak the timeline.
“There are two or three other projects already past the thought stage and on paper,” she said. “One big project is the roundabouts, some art pieces or sculptures in the roundabouts. So we want to start working on those, and the renovation or rebuilding or repurposing of Laurel Park.”
Browne said the art board is working on the roundabout project in conjunction with the city.
“We’re going to collaborate on that to build just the right thing,” Browne said. “We want to really do it right the first time. I know the chamber has gone and looked at different cities that have this kind of art in the roundabouts. We’d like every single one of them to be different,” she said.
Jamie Gates, executive vice president of the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce, said he met with art-board members this month and discussed Conway 125, a capital campaign to fund seven projects. The campaign honored the chamber turning 125 years old in 2016.
Art in all the roundabouts in Conway is one of the strategic goals of Conway 125, Gates said.
“I think it’s vital and, honestly, for the money, if you talk about as a value and what that can mean to people looking at your city, I think it’s good time, energy and money spent,” he said.
“If a kid grows up and on his way to school drives by 20 works of art every day instead of just sitting at 20 intersections, that makes a positive impact we can’t even imagine. This is not just for visitors; it’s for quality of life for people who live here,” Gates said.
Although there isn’t a timeline to start the roundabout art project, “this is not something the city is going to have to sit around and wait for,” he said. “Roundabouts are here. I don’t know that it’s something we’ll ever be finished with.”
He said there are 20-plus roundabouts in the city, and 40-plus intersections have been identified for roundabouts.
“I would describe us now as we’re in the phase of how do we kind of commit to this idea in a really thoughtful way?” He said Bend, Oregon, has been successful with its roundabout-art projects, and it is a model for Conway.
Another project the art board has discussed, Browne said, is art in Laurel Park on Prince Street.
The Conway City Council this month approved a $2.5 million tennis facility in Laurel Park, and Browne said the Conway Public Art Board would like to introduce art into the park to complement the facility.
“We want to do something along Tucker Creek walkway, too, and with the new bicycles,” she said.
Conway launched the first on-demand bike-sharing program in Arkansas, with 20 cruiser bicycles available at five locations.
Conway Mayor Bart Castleberry said public art is “part of the culture in Conway, and the Conway Art Board is playing an important part in making us an int- eresting city. There’s a lot that goes with being an interesting city. Whenever new businesses or new companies come to Conway, there are some of the things they want to see; they want to see a city that’s culturally diverse.” Browne agreed.
“Our mission is to not only help to create a beautiful and enticing downtown and Conway area, but also to promote artists and unique, original, interesting work,” she said.