The City of Fort Worth wants you to say “howdy” to its new welcoming gateway artwork that greets drivers as they approach downtown Fort Worth from westbound State Highway 121.
The city published a press release about the news on Tuesday. The artwork was created by the artist and landscape architect team of Etty Horowitz and Kevin Sloan, and it arrived for installation last week.
The artwork features 10-foot-high Cor-Ten steel letters mounted on low concrete pedestals that line up to spell out Fort Worth as drivers approach.
According to the city, the artwork will be underplanted in native Texas wildflowers and grasses for color and texture through much of the year. That will give the area around the concrete footings the look and feel of a native Texas prairie.
Additionally, the letters will be illuminated at night.
The project started when the city received a 2004 Governor’s Community Achievement Award for its Keep Fort Worth Beautiful efforts. The reward came with funds that can be used for landscaping projects along state highway rights-of-way.
Fort Worth Public Art joined the project in 2007, and the artist and landscape team were selected back in 2012. That was after an earlier design process with another artist did not move forward.
Initially, the project was planned for westbound Interstate 30, but was relocated and redesigned for State Highway 121 in 2018, when long-term plans for the Interstate 30 corridor determined it was no longer a good fit for the program.
Kevin Sloan died in 2021. Landscape architect Matt Stubbs and Horowitz worked with the Texas Department of Transportation and the city’s Transportation and Public Works Department to shepherd the project to completion.
Learn more about the Fort Worth Public Art program here.