The San Antonio River Walk Public Garden in the city has now become home to yet another art installation. This time around it is an artwork from the Bloom sculpture series created by local artist Leticia Huerta.
Situated close to the intersection of Market and Alamo Street in downtown San Antonio, the garden has been continually engaged in housing public artworks that replicate some of the structures within the city. The initiative has been undertaken to get more and more visitors and art enthusiasts to spot the creations that abound San Antonio’s architecture in and around parks, greenways and trails.
Of Huerta’s sculptures, the ones installed in the park replicate two native varieties of wild flowers, the Yellow Columbine and Lantana and were unveiled by the City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture and the Public Art Division.
A collaborative affair between Huerta and San Antonio-based fabricators, Wanderlust Ironworks, the new sculptures of the bright, blooming flowers are composed of metal and when looked at closely, resemble large yellow and red bicycle parts.
Huerta explains the incorporation of the bicycle parts as a reflection of San Antonio’s numerous hiking and bike trails. She said, “Bicycle parts also have a similarity to flower anatomy, so I use them to describe the native flowers of San Antonio, that are seen along the trails.”
“I am very proud of this project because it is my first time creating large-scale, free-standing sculptures as a public art project, so this artwork was a huge leap for me,” Huerta remarked.
Bloom is an undertaking comprising seven art installations, the first of which was put up at the entrance of the Mud Creek Trail at McAllister Park. The five remaining sculptures will be seen in different areas in the city with the ones in Apache Creek at Brazos Pocket Park and the Salado Creek at Eisenhower Park to be put up this spring.
Executive director of San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture, Debbie Racca-Sittre said of the Bloom series that it “is a perfect example of how public art expands the viewer’s mind in both artistic and educational ways while also serving a real purpose.”
She mentions that the Bloom exhibit is not simply an art installation or symbol to gaze upon but has a practical purpose. According to her, “Bloom’ serves as trailhead connectors and wayfinding markers and even a scientific purpose on the greenway and park installations, with silver rings on the flower stems to indicate various water levels when San Antonio receives rain.”
Remarkable still is the installation’s artistic philosophy of celebrating San Antonio and its natural environment, that will invariably draw residents towards Huerta’s creations.
To know more about the Bloom installations, click here.
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