The moments after waking up where the silence still lingers; the space before children wake up, before emails are read, before the busy day begins. It was the fleeting span of time that inspired Florida-based artist Aisling Millar McDonald when creating “Morning Interlude” the newest sculpture at Pendleton King Park.
“That’s always been very important to my day. That’s what inspired me – capturing that pause,” said McDonald.
On Saturday, July 25, the Greater Augusta Arts Council celebrated McDonald’s work as well as Wesley L Stewart and Colleen Beyer-Stewart’s set of three “Hydrangeas” with a ribbon cutting at Pendleton King Park.
McDonald said she fell in love with the park especially its gardens on a February visit, drawing from its flora and fauna when she created her piece that married nature with an abstract frame.
Also at the ceremony were the creators of the hydrangeas, which were placed at the park’s entrance last December.
“We wanted to make them larger than life,” said Colleen Beyer-Stewart. “They are all over six feet fall.”
Each one is adorned with more than 100 hand-painted petals.
“It was a labor of love,” she said.
Funded by Georgia Rehabilitation Institute, the flowers are part of a series called the Garden City Forever Flower sculptures, which are placed across the city.
Wesley and Colleen Beyer-Stewart also created “Iris”, located near Augusta’s Fifth Street bridge and “Rocky Shoals Spider Lily” near the Mill Village Trailhead. Atlanta-area metal artist Huelani Mei designed “Together We Bloom” an 11-foot-tall sculpture on the grounds of the Kroc Center at the corner of Pearl Avenue and Broad Street, which was dedicated in March.
More public art is on the way including a new iteration of the Augusta Sculpture Trail in 2027.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named best local writer by readers of Augusta Magazine in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
