St. Louis gets new sculpture garden
ST. LOUIS — A new sculpture garden in downtown St. Louis is trying to give a little something to everyone, offering a mixture of highbrow art, quiet spaces for reflection and whimsical spray fountains where visitors can cool off.
The park, called Citygarden, combines two dozen sculptures on three acres of land, from a giant bronze head resting on its side by Igor Mitoraj to animated figures walking across electronic screens by Julian Opie. Citygarden opened last month.
“The challenge and the opportunity was not just to make a sculpture garden, but a place for the public,” said Warren Byrd with the architectural design firm Nelson Byrd Woltz.
(Jeff Roberson/AP)
The sculpture garden is on city-owned land, but it was funded with roughly $30 million from the nonprofit Gateway Foundation, which supports outdoor art and urban design.
The park is blocks from the Gateway Arch and Busch Stadium and is free to visit.
Citygarden has an audio tour, which people can access by calling (314) 802-9571 on their cell phones. St. Louis leaders from Hall of Fame Cardinal Ozzie Smith to St. Louis Symphony Music Director David Robertson were asked to contribute recordings. Park visitors can punch in a number on their phone that corresponds to each sculpture.
Byrd said the designers responded to the natural features of the region, particularly its rivers, when determining the park’s layout.
“The garden looks this way because it’s in St. Louis. There’s nothing off the shelf about it,” he said.
The park has pathways, terraces and plazas. A new cafe is opening where diners will have a view of a waterfall spilling from the limestone and a pool surrounding Aristide Maillol’s reclining nude sculpture “La Riviere.”
Raymond Furgason was one of the first visitors to the park. The downtown resident and owner of a nearby business, the Bubba Tea Cafe, strolled through the grounds, coffee in hand, with his 2-year-old son, Jadyn, who rode along on a tricycle.
“I think it brings a nice sense of style to downtown,” he said. “It makes it feel good, homey, real comfortable.”
AP