The annual sculpture show and sale in Little Rock's River Market District starts today, with a winner to be announced Sunday.
This is the ninth show put on by the Sculpture at the River Market committee, which commissions artwork and then donates it to the city to be placed around town for the public to view.
More than 800 sculptures of all sizes and media will be displayed at River Market pavilions and in surrounding areas of Riverfront Park this weekend.
The show opens to the public at 9 a.m. today and lasts until 5 p.m., and will continue from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. The grand winner will be announced at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Tours of the Vogel Schwartz Sculpture Garden will take place at 2 p.m. both days. There also will be food trucks set up nearby.
"Over the last 15 years, the city of Little Rock now owns $3 million worth of sculpture that has been bought and then gifted to the city. Most of the proceeds from the sculpture show are raised privately," said Dean Kumpuris, the founder of Sculpture at the River Market and who serves on the city Board of Directors.
Each year a piece is selected to be commissioned. The winner receives $60,000 to $80,000 and spends a year creating a large-scale version of their design, which is then gifted to the city and placed somewhere in town.
This year's winner will have a sculpture placed on the Central High School campus next year for the 60th anniversary of the integration of the school.
"It will be something I think that will say to people, 'We have come through a lot, and we've made a lot of changes.' It will commemorate what's going on at Central High School," Kumpuris said.
"Sculpture is a great way to make our city better and nicer" and to make people proud of it, he added.
Fifty artists will have their pieces displayed at this year's show.
Seven sculptures were selected as semifinalists to be considered for the top prize.
They are: The Graduate by Craig Campbell, Enlightenment by Kathleen Caricof, United by Clay Enoch, Strength to Endure by Denny Haskew, Thirst by Kevin Kresse, For the Love of Books by Kevin Robb and Ten Monoliths by Stephen Shachtman.
A preview event, at $100 per ticket, took place Friday. Each attendee got to cast a vote for their favorite of the semifinalists. The top three vote-getters are continuing in the juried competition today and Sunday.
Last year's winner was Michael Warrick, who sculpted a piece called Mockingbird Tree. It was installed this week at the northwest corner of Chenal Parkway and Chenal Valley Drive in west Little Rock.
He said his design was a celebration of Arkansas' state bird.
"My concept is playfully illustrated in a childlike fashion with bubble forms for [foliage] plus a pair of Arkansas' state birds," he said.
His sculpture is an 18-foot-tall and 11-foot-wide treelike sculpture of stainless steel and bronze.
Metro on 04/23/2016