Sculptures add artistic touch to Arlington nature walk

So you’d like to visit public art but just can’t find the time, what with all the exercising you do?

The Arlington Parks and Recreation Department recently dedicated Phase 2 of what it considers to be a solution.

Called the Entertainment District Sculpture Trail, it’s a nature path in Richard Greene Linear Park featuring nine large, mostly welded-steel artworks that the city is leasing from area artists for three years.

The eclectic exhibits stand along the east bank of Johnson Creek, between Globe Life Park and AT&T Stadium in the city’s Entertainment District. They will be joined by many others in the future, expanding onto the adjacent Robert Cluck Linear Park, said Gary Packan, assistant director of the parks department.

“First of all, we’re using art to try to activate that space, get people out to enjoy the park, be active and support healthy lifestyles,” Packan said.

Second, he said, it’s also a potential economic development tool.

“We have millions of visitors coming to Arlington, and if we can get them to stay in Arlington another day, participating in our parks, enjoying our art or visiting one of our aquatic facilities or playing golf — that’s great for the city,” he said. “Because it’s not just people enjoying our parks; they’re staying in our hotels, dining at our restaurants and shopping in our stores.”

Visitors could also boost the household economies of the artists, since the sculptures are for sale. Just bring a checkbook — and a forklift. Most of the works weigh a quarter-ton or more.

Janna Tidwell’s welded-sheet-metal flower stands 8  1/2 feet tall and weighs 1,500 pounds, not including the base. She calls it, Leave Your Mark, a tribute to the city and volunteer efforts that brought the two stadiums and other attractions to Arlington.

Her inspiration for the sculpture came from the program’s theme.

“When the city was first putting out a call for art, they said they wanted sculptures inspired by what the citizens of Arlington have done for the city,” says Tidwell, a Coppell resident and landscape architect who learned welding at an early age from her father. “There are many citizens involved in seeing that Arlington succeeds.”

The trail concept came about during the city’s planning to host Super Bowl XLV in 2011, a living and growing tribute to the nation’s biggest sporting event’s first visit to North Texas. A $50,000 grant from the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation and partial city match brought it to life.

“We wanted to come up with a legacy project,” Packan said.

Eventually there will be many artworks “sprinkled” along the two linear parks, creating opportunities for quiet reflection and exercise — particularly during the calm between the stadium events, he said.

“On the days when there are no games, it’s very quite and peaceful,” he said. “It’s a fantastic corridor for birds, turtles, fish — all the things going on there right between these two megafacilities and all that action.”

Phase 1 is the upcoming installation of Unity Arch, a 25-foot-long stainless steel sculpture that resembles an infinity symbol. The city allocated $235,000 to commission New York artist Owen Morrel to build it and $266,663 for a concrete plaza to host it. Most of the Unity Arch project is being funded with hotel/motel taxes, Packan said.

“We have run into a number of delays in the Unity Arch Phase 1 construction,” he said. “Hope to have it completed in September.”

Yes, Phase 2 finished before Phase 1.

Until then, the sculpture trail has plenty to offer in its first phase, said Arlington sculptor Art Fairchild, who has two welded-steel sculptures on the trail — the 900-pound, colorfully interlocking Trio sculpture and the 600-pound Whimsical Spherical, a ball made of seemingly randomly placed pipes.

“It think it’s a good thing for Arlington,” said Fairchild, 57. “And the spectators that enjoy the sporting events and everything else will have a secondary benefit — all the function and entertainment that goes on in the parks.”

Fairchild praised the city’s public art programs: “We as artists love public art, and we’re always looking for public opportunities to place our art for people enjoy it.”

Scott Shubin, the reining DFW Art Awards’ Sculptor of the Year, has a 1-foot-tall, 1,200-pound metal sculpture called Arc 7 on the trail.

“It’s good exposure, and it motivated me to do some different sculptures,” said Shubin, 51, who has constructed 17 public artworks, including two on display in Mesquite and Lubbock.

He said art is a matter of quality of life.

“I think great cities have great art,” he said.

This story was originally published May 30, 2016 at 1:35 PM with the headline "Sculptures add artistic touch to Arlington nature walk."