Many of the locations of art in the sidewalk is where the art is part of a fountain. When reading here about the installation and components of the fountains I have, or will as those posts are completed, talk about the art components. The Cotswold program that added the fountains was assisted by the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County. (more…)
At Crawford and Preston (map) is my favorite fountain–a 5-foot diameter bronze baseball across Crawford St. from the entrance to Minute Maid Baseball Park. The setting is to depict a baseball hit out of the Park–of course by one of the Astros– that landed in the sidewalk, breaking water lines and the water gushing up almost onto the broken sidewalk. There have been thousands of photographs taken in front of it and more than a few with kids on top of it. It is part of a wonderful memory for many people. (more…)
There are two stone “vessels” either side of Main Street on the north side of Preston (map). Both stone urns were designed, built and installed by Brad Goldberg, an award winning sculptor/artist who works with stone. Be sure to read the posts here about his two vessels at Congress and Main and the “Bayou” in the fountain on Preston between Fannin and San Jacinto. All pieces are part of the City of Houston’s Art Collection.
There are four fountains on the north end of Main Street in the historic district–two at the Congress and two at the Preston intersections in downtown Houston. The center piece of each is a stone urn created by the master artist and sculptor Brad Goldberg. Brad’s web site presents him as “an artist who sees his work as a fusion between sculpture, the landscape and the built environment”. You will find five fountains in this blog where the centerpiece is his work–the four on Main Street plus the “Bayou” on Preston between Fannin and San Jacinto Streets. All pieces are part of the City of Houston’s Art Collection. (more…)
On Prairie Street in downtown Houston (map) the Cotswold Project added art in the widened sidewalk areas and one of the installations uses puzzle shapes with sandblasted artist created patterns. There are several aspects to this installation–and more than a few lessons–you may find interesting. The process we experienced–the challenges and the rewards–are enumerated below.
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