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It’s impossible to walk around downtown Des Moines without encountering public art. Public art refers to the art that is in public view whether it is in private property or public area. Public art has many forms of art that are in different sizes, different shapes, different material, whether it is temporary or lasts very long. The most common form of public art is memorials, civic statutes, monuments and sculptures. It can also be temporary art such as murals, paint, graffiti and posters.

Some artwork combines architecture within buildings with design. Some pieces incorporate music to feel the different settings of the environment. Public art tells stories and represents innovation. It’s meant to question people’s perceptions and world view. It also enriches the environment and creates awareness for the people. Despite how prominent art is in our lives, many of us don’t know much about where it comes from or how it got here.

 Des Moines has many types of public art, but people do not know where they are located.

“There are about a hundred types of art just in downtown Des Moines,” said Jessica Rowe, director of a non-profit organization called the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines.

One example is a sculpture called “A Monumental Journey”. It looks like a drum that is, “made out of black brick and is 30 feet high to commemorate historical events that took place in Des Moines,” Rowe said.

On the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines’s website, A Monumental Journey was made by artist Kerry James Marshall and tells the historical moment of African American lawyers that are denied membership to the American Bar Association (NBA) as well as other national legal associations. A Monumental Journey idea came from creative artist Marshall, who was inspired by the West African communication system.

The monument illustrates the sound of drum pitch and the tone of mimic patterns that communicate far distance from each other in African American history. The monumental was completed in July 2018 and recognizes the bravery and progressive vision of the NBA founder as well as everyone involved in making the piece a reality. A Monumental Journey is made out of iron black brick for long term sculpture and weigh about twenty five tons.  A Monument Journey is located along the Principal Riverwalk at the corner of Grand and 2nd Avenues in Hansen Triangle Park.

A short term public piece that was displayed in Des Moines back in 2018 by Yorame Mevorach (also known as Oyoram) called Mental Banquet: Painting With Lights was projected onto The World Food Prize Hall of Laureates building. Mevorach is a Franco-Israeli artist and filmmaker, who brought the essence of the transformational experience in Des Moines.

“It only lasted for 10 minutes, but it was very interesting,” said Rowe.

The art represents the mental aspect of growing, changing, going and the process of time.

Pappajohn Sculpture Park

There is a variety of public art in downtown Des Moines. Pappajohn Sculpture Park is one of the most well-known parks. It has 31 displays inside the park. People might wonder why the Pappajohn Sculpture Park exits? The original idea came from husband and wife, Mary and John where they got an idea after driving past the big open field that the city had just purchased, and has built a nice green space in downtown Des Moines. Mary and John worked with Jeff Fleming, director of the Des Moines has Art Center to have the public sculpture park built. The problem was that the city of Des Moines just spent dollars to built a nice green grass on the field for recreational purpose.

However, “City councilwoman Christine Hensley was a big contributor to a smooth transition for creating a world class sculpture park in downtown Des Moines,” said Jill Featherstone, director of education at the Des Moines Art Center.

Pappajohn Sculpture Park opened in 2009 to the public with the collaboration of Pappajohn, City of Des Moines, Des Moines Art Center, and numerous corporate and private donors. Mary and John raised spent over six million dollars to create the landscape architecture. Mary and John had been collecting contemporary art from around the world for years.

“Several of the pieces that are now in the sculpture park in downtown Des Moines, some of the sculpture Mary and John had lived with throughout their domestic lives, and some of the sculptures were inside their home originally,” said Featherstone.

The Des Moines Art Center oversees the Pappajohn Sculpture Park and recently celebrated their 10^th Anniversary on September 7. One of the reason for creating park was for it to be a recreational place where people have a place to come, takes pictures with the art work, walk on the sidewalk, hold hands and be outside with family and friends.

Pappajohn Sculpture Park is unique because of the openness of the field.

“It’s a sculpture park, not a sculpture garden” said Featherstone.

People see in a different perspective ways in every angle, that tells a different kind of story. The berm were created like a pocket or a hill in the park to separate each art pieces. Trees, light and very minimal planting were meant to highlight the artwork. There’s no fences or no walls but it is more like outdoor galley makes one uniqueness to the park.

The park holds pieces like animal sculptures and anthropomorphism sculptures where a geometric form is placed in a certain area. An abstract sculpture such as the giant White Night Ghost was place toward the west in the park, which was meant to ward off any negativity that comes to the park. The park is open sunrise to midnight and is located on 1330 Grand Avenue in downtown Des Moines. People can tour starting April 1 through October 31 every year. An audio tourism about the artwork is also available on their website. This is uniquely different compared to other cities.

The art pieces inside Pappajohn Sculpture Park are meant to have a particular meaning such as  the Spider sculpture. People might see a spider as a small predator, but Louise Bourgeois saw the spider as having a positive meaning. Louise’s inspiration for the piece came from her mother who pass away when she was 21 years old. Bourgeois grownup as family own tapestry restoration business. Spider web as a connection to her mother who was seamstress in her entire life. Bourgeois interprets the spider as her mother, who was very protective yet very fragile.

“I’m a mother now. So I kind of relate to being strong and protective for my kids, but also having uncertainty that nobody tells you exactly how to parent and when to be protective and when to fall back and let your kids learn a lessons” said Featherstone.

It is not just a spider sculpture but is meant to connect to people who have similar connections to their mom and children.

Public art can take a different form when combined with music. Music composer Beau Kenyon, came to Iowa from Boston to work with Natalia Zubko. Zubko is an artist and teacher in New York. These two came to Des Moines to bring River Constellation sculpture in Water Work Park. Natalia explained that the sculpture will have 45 poles made out of stainless steel and each poles with eleven sound speaker poles that will vibrate to create a different environment similar to walking on the wood and water park. The light bulb will just be white inside the globe and is made out of polycarbonate to make it long lasting. The things that will make this unique is the feeling of naturalism where people will slowly learn the River Constellation sculpture’s light, material and sound. The sound in its poles will intertwine with each other similar to walking in the forest, where the sound of animals at some points are loud and quiet. The sculpture will be finished in November and will be interactive from 5 A.M. to midnight.

Almost every piece of art tells a story that represents something meaningful. Public art is important because it connects people and adds vibrancy to the community, said Kenyon. Public art shows the growing city and creates a beautiful environment. It is an adventure to see new things in public and a more exciting way that pushes people to learn and grow on the way.

“Public art is not meant to please everybody. Some people might not like a particular art piece while some might love it, which makes it something to talk about,” said Zuboko.

It connects people and provides unity to who might not speak the same languages. Public art connects people by allowing them to share their thoughts, ideas, opinions, and political view. Its also bring artists from around the world and creates a unique cultural environment for becoming an extraordinary city.