Three Internationally Known Artists Are Invited To Sculpt in Lampasas
T.J. Mabrey of Lampasas County and Italy, David B. Hickman of Dallas, and Carolann Haggard, also of Dallas, were selected to participate in the new Hanna Springs Sculpture Garden. The artists were invited by the Committee on Art in the Park, a volunteer, non-profit group affiliated with Preservation Lampasas. These three artists will sculpt on site in Hanna Springs Park in the first phase of the Hanna Spring Sculpture Garden.
For the first phase of the Sculpture Garden, the Committee was looking for two things in particular: national reputation and sensitivity to both physical and social context. "It was important to choose artists whose work was well known in the art world in order to launch the project successfully, and it was important to select artists whose work would not be controversial, as the Hanna Springs Sculpture Garden is a public sculpture garden, for the people of Lampasas. Mabrey, Hickman, and Haggard all fit the bill." said Nancy Gay, project director.
Mabrey's work is in collections in Asia, Europe, and the United States. At Hanna Springs, she will carve a gate from local limestone. The imagery she will use will be based on designs by Lampasas school children of regional plant and animal life. She has suggested that her gate will "tell a story of Lampasas," and that it will be a gateway to the history of Lampasas as well as a gateway to Hanna Springs Park.
David B. Hickman is known for his kinetic sculptures - sculptures that move. Hickman has won numerous awards for his work and is represented in private and public collections. His commissions include Prairie Falls (2001) in the Texas Sculpture Garden , Hall Financial, Frisco, Texas, and his Red Bird (2003) is installed at the Dallas Executive Airport. Hickman plans to use metal and wood to create an abstract sculpture that changes shape with the wind.
Carolann Haggard's work is in private and public collections in the United States, Japan, and Europe. She was project coordinator for Save Outdoor Sculpture!, Tennessee State Museum, Nashville, and Executive Director and Founder of the Sculpture Chicago Program, for which she developed and directed an annual sculpture symposium. Haggard intends to carve a chair and couch out of limestone - art that you can sit in!
Each of the sculptors contributes a different interactive element to the Hanna Springs Sculpture Garden. Visitors will walk through Mabrey's gate, they will watch Hickman's abstraction change and change again with the weather, and they will relax in Haggard's limestone furniture. The work will be fun, inviting, and very accessible.
For the next phase of the Garden, the Committee plans a call for artists. This phase will be open to all artists who wish to be considered by a jury. Two or three artists will be selected for inclusion in the Hanna Springs Sculpture Garden. The Committee plans to repeat this process every two years.