A brand new sculpture garden in an old downtown space was officially opened on Tuesday. That downtown space is the three tree-shaded acres bordered by South Alamo and Market streets on two sides, and the San Antonio River on the third side. Former San Antonio Poet Laureate Octavio Quintanilla talked about his project there.
“I was commissioned to write the poem that you're going to see spiraling around the plaza,” he said.
Quintanilla’s words in concrete honor labor, and encircle the area where the sculpture of labor leader Samuel Gompers used to stand. That sculpture wasn’t originally built to last, and has been removed.
That three acres is bisected at the middle by a waterfall. Most of the ten artists behind the sculptures were there to welcome those discovering the garden, which is divided between the river level and the street level above. Artist Gary Sweeney was asked to create a sign to tie both levels.
“We're standing under the sign that drives people from the River Walk up into the beautiful sculpture garden they have up above here.”
His sign was, as is not unusual for him, quirky.
“It's been described as a ransom note,” Sweeney said. “So there are different fonts and there are different colors.”
The garden is punctuated on the west end with Sebastián's Torch of Friendship and at its east end by the massive steel Stargazer, by Pedro Reyes, perched where the river separates to the Rivercenter Mall on one side and the Convention Center on the other.
The Department of Arts and Culture’s Krystal Jones oversaw the garden.
“This was part of a 2017 Bond project. And really, this is a signature project to help us celebrate the Tricentennial,” she said.
One of the functions of the garden is to send art lovers around town to seek out other related works.
“A really important piece of this project is that there are connection pieces that connect downtown with other neighborhoods,” Jones said. “So we have the Spheres of Reflection piece here by Kaldrick Dow. He has a larger sculpture and that of that series at Martin Luther King Park.”
The setting for new sculpture garden is one of city’s most beautiful. Jones said this garden is for everyone.
“It is free, accessible and accessible to all abilities, ages, backgrounds. This is beautiful on street level and on Riverwalk level,” she said.
For those going, you can take in all the sculptures easily within an hour.
