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I was invited to come shoot some nighttime photography as part of the local Des Moines area Flickr Group. You can see most of my shots from this outing at: Downtown at Night Photo Album.
You can check at all the participant’s photography by visiting: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1014797@N22/ or watching the slide show below.
This video documentation of the six-month installation process of the Pappajohn Sculpture Park was produced by Blur MediaWorks as a gift to the City of Des Moines and the Des Moines Art Center.
Sometimes I shake my head in disbelief. Des Moines puts on a face of such a progressive city with its awesome new sculpture park until you see what was selected for bike racks around the park. I invite you to play the game, of the 10 images of bike racks on the photo above, one type was selected for the Pappajohn Sculpture Park, and five other types can be found around downtown and three types are possibilities that could exist in downtown with had a few more creative minds that participated in the selection of bike racks.
Over the last serveral weeks, sculptures have been appearing every days as installation begins for the Pappajohn Sculpture Garden in the Western Gateway Park. I scoured the internet to find everything I could about this park to bring it all together in one place. Here’s what I found:
In February 2007 Des Moines Art Center Director Jeff Fleming announced that Des Moines philanthropists John and Mary Pappajohn plan to give the Art Center a minimum of 16 major sculptures by internationally acclaimed contemporary artists. The Pappajohns are known worldwide and ARTnews magazine listed them as one of the top 200 art collectors in the world.
The collection of sculptures by artists Louise Bourgeois, Scott Burton, Deborah Butterfield, Anthony Caro, Tony Cragg, Willem deKooning, Mark di Suvero, Barry Flanagan, Ellsworth Kelly, Martin Puryear, Richard Serra, Joel Shapiro, Judith Shea, Tony Smith, and William Tucker will be the most significant donation of artwork to the Art Center in a single gift in the museum’s history. According to art critics, the Pappajohns’ donation will likely bring Iowa renown as having one of the best public sculpture gardens in the world. In a new partnership formed with the city of Des Moines, the sculptures will be installed in the city’s Western Gateway Park in a permanent feature to be named The John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park.
Here are some of the works that have all ready been installed as of today (May 29th, 2009):
Spider, 1997 – Louise Bourgeois – American, born France, 1911 – Bronze – 94 x 94 x 84 inches
I grew up in the suburbs of Des Moines, and after too many long drives back to Waukee from a night out, I decided to move downtown. I’ve lived downtown since the fall of 2005, and haven’t regretted it.
While I work clear out on the western side of West Des Moines, I really don’t mind the commute. It’s a reverse commute that takes about 20 minutes.
Living downtown is awesome because there always seems to be things available to do that aren’t too far away from where I live. There are shops, dining, entertainment, and fitness opportunities available within the downtown area. Having these cultural amenities near me was a big selling point when I chose to live here. While living in the suburbs, everything was really spread out, and the houses were practically the same. I never really met the neighbors, and my car was a necessity to do anything outside of the home. Downtown offers interesting architectural elements and plenty of things to look at while going on a walk, jog, bike ride, or even just looking out the window.
Since moving downtown, I have lived in three neighborhoods: Downtown Core, East Village, and Western Gateway. Downtown Core offered me protection from the elements when I used the Skywalk system to travel around to my destinations. Living in the East Village was a blast, and I felt really connected to the city when I lived above locally owned shops and hung out with the shop owners. So far, living in Western Gateway has offered me quick access to Gray’s Lake, the public library, and Western Gateway Park. While each neighborhood has its own unique features and charm, they unite as downtown. Kinda weird but at times, I feel that downtown is a city within a city. Within this city I can find most of what I need on a day-to-day basis, and that’s why I live downtown.
