Featured photo: Ashley Gray and Jake Amoroso install a sculpture in Twiggs Circle Dec. 16. Charmain Z. Brackett/Augusta Good News
Sculptures paying tribute to Augusta’s African American medical pioneers and to a local garden club are part of Augusta’s horizon.
Colleen Beyer Stewart and Wesley L. Stewart installed their painted metal sculpture Iris at the north corner of the Iris Garden Club Pocket Park, on the corner of 5th and Reynolds Streets on Saturday, Dec. 16.
“Iris is an elegant tribute to the Iris Garden Club”, according to a news release from the Augusta Arts Council.
The club “has been the driving force behind the charming mini park that greets pedestrians as they approach the 5th Street Freedom Pedestrian Bridge, 5th Street Marina, and Riverwalk,” the release said.
Built 75 years ago, the park is the home of a Blue Star Memorial Marker and a Gold Star Memorial Marker. The new sculpture joins Jason Lutz’s 4-panel Art the Box public art mural in the park.
“To celebrate the devotion of the Iris Garden Club to the lovely little park, Georgia Rehabilitation Institute, Inc. funded the creation and installation of the Stewart’s sculpture, Iris,” the release continued.
Installation also began Saturday on a sculpture at Twiggs Circle by Ashley Gray.
Her 15-foot-tall ceramic sculpture, Pillars of the Golden Blocks, will be in the center of the Twiggs Circle roundabout.
Gray said the installation would take several days and is weather dependent. She said she and Jake Amoroso, who was helping with the installation, could handle the rain, but if the temperatures drop too much, that could hamper their progress.
The sculpture is a tribute to Augusta’s African American Medical Community.
It joins multiple pieces of public art including several murals that are already located in the Golden Blocks, the Laney-Walker and Bethlehem neighborhoods.
The City’s Housing and Community Development Department matched Georgia Rehabilitation Institute grant funds to provide the concrete pad and brick base for the new sculpture, the news release said.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for 35 years. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
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I really enjoy seeing the public art in Augusta. I believe this is a wonderful initiative that should continue to have widespread community support. I am concerned, however, that there does not appear to be in place a plan or program to maintain the works for the long term. An example are the mural panels at Augusta Utilities on Wrightsboro Road at Highland Avenue. They are fading and failing, in part because of leaks to the holding tank. The deterioration did not happen overnight; it has been years in the making. And over the years, the artworks have never received any attention. Their condition reflects poorly on the artists, the City, and the public art program. Remember, if we build it, we must maintain it. What’s the plan for the painted traffic control boxes, murals, statues, memorials, etc?
I asked Brenda Durant specifically about the water works murals. She said the arts council is working with utilities, who is trying to determine the source of the leak. Once that’s fixed the murals can be addressed.