Fanciful art flowers now at Botanical Garden
Taniah Tudor
Issue date: 4/1/09 Section: Lifestyles
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The sculptures, which look like exotic flowers, were originally part of an outdoor public art installation called "I-540 Flowers: Cultivating the Northwest Arkansas Neighborhood" by sculptor Lee Littlefield, according to the Walton Arts Center Web site.
The flowers were set up in clusters on private land along I-540 between Fayetteville and Bella Vista, said Terri Trotter, the interim president and CEO of the center.
The center's administration commissioned Littlefield to create the colorful and whimsical installation because they wanted to do a public arts display that drew attention to art in Northwest Arkansas, Trotter said.
The installation was set along I-540 because it unites the whole region of NWA. The center thought commissioning a work that united the region would be a fun thing to do, she said.
Littlefield is a painter and sculptor who installed his first freeway site sculpture, called "Pop-Up," on I-10 East in Houston in 1998. His fascination with bayous influences the fantastical floral and vegetal quality of his work, he said, according to his Web site.
The flowers appeared along I-540 for almost two years. Recently, because the flowers are made from a natural medium, such as vines and wood, some have had begun to come down, Trotter said.
"We had lost many of the flowers," Trotter said. "We began moving the clusters around."
The WAC decided to take the installation down while some flowers remained to be saved and they could go on to have another life and creative opportunity in NWA, Trotter said.
Workers at the center came up with the idea to display the flowers at the Botanical Garden, and started working with the garden to see how it might use the flowers, she said.
The flowers are on view in the "pinetum," a display of varieties of conifers along Highway 265, said Sarah King, the director of community programs for the Botanical Garden.
"The flowers look quite at home there," King said.
Although the flowers are abstract sculptures, they are also "fanciful, funky botanicals" that make sense in the garden.
The garden now has 37,000 tulips blooming, which look beautiful with the brilliant colors of the art flowers, she said.
The flowers have a new life at the garden, and people now have a chance to see them up close, King said.
The flowers will be displayed at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks through October, when several of the flowers will be auctioned off at the "Chef's in the Garden" event, said Katherine Barnhart, the garden's plant collections specialist.
Residents are encouraged to view the "flowers" while they are being displayed, King said.
The Botanical Garden of the Ozarks opened in May 2008 with the help of grants and donations, and is the result of a volunteer-led, grassroots effort, according to the BGO Web site.
The "I-540 Flowers: Cultivating the Northwest Arkansas Neighborhood" project was originally supported by the Jim and Diane Blair Charitable Foundation, according to the Web site.
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