Pappajohn Sculpture Park

 

"Sculpture Park View," wc/ink on paper

At the west end of downtown the Pappajohn Sculpture Park occupies almost five acres of parkland reclaimed during around of urban renewal over fifteen years ago. The Park was the brain child of the Pappajohns who also donated their expansive eollection of contemporary sculptures. The park was designed as a kind of outdoor museum, with :"rooms" made by berms and fencing, with serious consideration given to viewing experiences. The landscape architects considered views from cars passing on either side, views from the sidewalks, and views from the interior toward points of importance. 

A group of the Saturday sketchers went to the Sculpture Park last weekend. I sat on a bench and sketched the view toward the downtown skyline to the east, with several sculptures in view (and a few omitted here). The figure on the left is a a hare sitting on a boulder, "Thinker on a Rock" is by Barry Flanagan as an homage to Rodin's famous figure. A duplicate is in the National Gallery. Just it's right is a headless life size figure "Post Balzac," by Judith Shea, a sculptural allusion to Rodin's study for a monument to the famou French writer. And to the right of that is one of Louise Bourgeois' spiders, which is perhaps seven feet tall. The early spring colors are still muted but the grass is turning bright greens.