Department of Travel
Owensboro Museum of Fine Art has Celebration of Public Art

Release Date:   Contact:  Mary Bryan Hood
July 17, 2008            270-685-3181

Owensboro Museum of Fine Art has Celebration of Public Art
OWENSBORO, Ky. -- The Owensboro Museum of Fine Art will open two sculpture parks and unveil two monumental works of art at A CELEBRATION OF PUBLIC ART on Saturday,
July 26 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.  The event will feature the opening of Ryan Sculpture Park, a new community green space adjacent to the museum at 10th and Frederica Streets, and the Contemporary Art Park across the street from the museum at 9th and Frederica Streets.

The opening of each park will feature the official unveiling of public art, including the first buffalo sculpture in Owensboro’s Bronze Buffalo Trace, Into the Wind, a one-and-one-third life size bronze bison by Texas artist T. D. Kelsey.

Ryan Sculpture Park, developed from a blighted former filling station site with a grant from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, was designed to serve as a prototype for the Owensboro Public Art Commission’s long-term project to commemorate the buffalo trail which was the predecessor to present day Frederica Street, the city’s major thoroughfare.  The project calls for the placement of bronze buffalo sculptures in myriad locations on Frederica Street and ultimately in the riverfront development scheduled for completion in the next few years.

The trace originated as buffalo gathered at a salt lick located near the meeting of the north and south forks of Panther Creek in southern Daviess County.  Taking a northerly direction from this juncture, the trace followed a path along what is now Highway 431, eventually descending into a ravine in the Ohio River at the foot of Frederica Street.  The beginnings of Owensboro’s commerce along the Ohio River can be traced to the top of that ravine.

The Contemporary Art Park will be the permanent site for a massive painted steel construction, Little Mo, by New York artist Peter Reginato.  It is the sixth monumental outdoor sculpture purchased from the Owensboro Public Art Commission’s national competition, the Riverbend Sculpture Biennial.

Opening concurrently with the two sculpture parks is the major exhibition Kentucky Masters, featuring 48 works of art by late 19th and early 20th century artists of the Commonwealth.  The exhibition is highlighted by more than two dozen paintings by Kentucky’s most celebrated early artist, Paul Sawyier, who documented central Kentucky with his oils and watercolors.

The museum is located at 9th and Frederica Streets.  Museum hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.  The galleries are closed on Mondays and national holidays.  Access facilities for persons with disabilities are provided by the museum through the 9th Street entrance.   Admission is FREE.  Voluntary donations of $2.00 per adult and $1.00 for children 12 years and younger are accepted. 

--30--      

The Kentucky Department of Travel, an agency of the Tourism, Arts & Heritage Cabinet, exists to promote The Commonwealth as a travel destination, generate revenue and create jobs for Kentucky’s economy.