Elizabeth Akamatsu’s stainless steel piece “Quasar” is one of seven works that will be on display in The Commons of Castle Hills. Visitors will be able to vote on their favorite, and the winner will be purchased by the city and permanently displayed as part of a new sculpture park in the space.
Elizabeth Akamatsu
The Commons of Castle Hills has a playground and a Little Free Library as well as a walking path, some picnic tables and a small pavilion.
Starting this weekend, the park tucked between Castle Hills City Hall and a fire station also will boast an art exhibit.
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Kurt Dyrhaug’s wood and cast iron piece “Sensor Device #4” is one of seven works that will be on display in The Commons of Castle Hills. Visitors will be able to vote on their favorite, and the winner will be purchased by the city and permanently displayed as part of a new sculpture park in the space.
Kurt Dyrhaug
Dewane Hughes’ steel sculpture “Little Slices” is one of seven works that will be on display in The Commons of Castle Hills. Visitors will be able to vote on their favorite, and the winner will be purchased by the city and permanently displayed as part of a new sculpture park in the space.
Alexis Serio
San Antonio-based artist Danville Chadbourne’s stoneware and stone piece “Revelation in the Clouds of Time” is one of seven works that will be on display in The Commons of Castle Hills. Visitors will be able to vote on their favorite, and the winner will be purchased by the city and permanently displayed as part of a new sculpture park in the space.
Conan Chadbourne
Austin-based artist Laura Sturtz’ powder-coated steel sculpture “What’s Your Angle Too?” is one of seven works that will be on display in The Commons of Castle Hills. Visitors will be able to vote on their favorite, and the winner will be purchased by the city and permanently displayed as part of a new sculpture park in the space.
Laura Sturtz
Lubbock-based artist Daniel Haynie’s aluminum, stainless steel bearings and steel pole sculptre “Three-Dimensional Spinning Chaos” is one of seven works that will be on display in The Commons of Castle Hills. Visitors will be able to vote on their favorite, and the winner will be purchased by the city and permanently displayed as part of a new sculpture park in the space.
Daniel Haynie
Houston-based artist Susan Budge’s bronze piece “Harvey” is one of seven works that will be on display in The Commons of Castle Hills. Visitors will be able to vote on their favorite, and the winner will be purchased by the city and permanently displayed as part of a new sculpture park in the space.
Susan Budge
The display is the first phase of a sculpture garden in the park, one element of the city’s new public art program.
A ribbon cutting will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday at the park, 209 Lemonwood. It is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
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One of the seven will win a permanent berth in the park.
In the months ahead, Castle Hills residents and visitors will be able to vote on their favorites, and the winner will be purchased by the city. Six more works will be displayed next year; they, too, will be contenders to be purchased for the park.
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“We do this for seven years, and we will have a permanent sculpture park in Castle Hills,” said artist Bill FitzGibbons, who lives in Castle Hills and who drew up its new public art master plan. “And we’ll be the only small town in a metropolitan area that has a sculpture park program.”
FitzGibbons invited Lana Meador, associate curator of modern and contemporary art at the San Antonio Museum of Art, to curate the first slate of works. She assessed more than 30 entries from artists across the state.
“I was very impressed with the breadth of where artists are coming from geographically, but also the breadth of the materials and the approaches that they’re using to create their sculptures, the … ideas they’re working with,” Meador said. “At the same time, I was looking at it to make a cohesive kind of group as well, having some variety in the sculpture that was going to be presented. But also, maybe there’s some connecting threads between the different artists that are included that visitors may or may not pick up on.”
The city is hoping Castle Hill residents will enjoy the artworks and that the sculpture garden will draw visitors, too.
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“We’re hoping it might generate some economic development as we bring visitors in,” said City Councilman Jack Joyce, who also serves on the city’s art committee. “Hopefully, visitors will come and spend some time in our Commons and then maybe go out and spend a buck or three in our restaurants and bars and things.”
The other component to the city’s public art program puts artists in schools with the help of UT San Antonio’s Artist in Residency Program. Gary Sweeney, an artist who also lives in Castle Hills, was the first participant. He worked with youngsters at Castle Hills Elementary on a map of the United States that marks all of the cities with the word “castle” in the name. The other text on the map reads, “There are many cities with castle in their name, but there is only one Castle Hills.”
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The map will be installed in the school.
“It’s also important for kids to know about public art,” said FitzGibbons, who has worked on public art projects all over the world. “There’s always somebody that says, well, it’s not science or math or engineering, what good is it? Well, two things. One, it fosters creative thinking. Thinking outside of the box. And no matter what you do, if you’re a lawyer, construction worker, it’ll be helpful in your career.”