Client: City Of Tampa

Overview

The gateway sculptures to the Perry Harvey Park pay homage to the musical history of the Perry Harvey community. A community where many important musicians and civil rights leaders lived. Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald both lived there in their early lives. Commissioned by the city of Tampa’s Tampa Public Art organization, in collaboration with many entities. My sculptures were created in clay and cast in concrete with colors and sealers. The stand up lampshades were cut out of steel with lasers. There are two 16′ musicians, two 9′ dancers, and a jukebox, and dogs.

Goals

The goals was to create an iconic large-scale entryway that integrated the history of the community with its present circumstances to create art that is relevant, relatable, and remarkable. The correct integration composition wise as well as physically was crucial, since the sculptures are the featured entryway into the park.

Process

I worked in depth with many entities to create these sculptures- in collaboration with the parks architects, the City of Tampa, and the Tampa Public Art organization, as well as the contractors that were commissioned to create the park. The work was designed at the beginning stages as part of the total design of the park. I created idea drawings, once reviewed and tweeted with feedback, I then created 3d scale models simulating the finished sculptures.

Additional Information

The sculptures have been a great success and are loved.