Artist’s Statement About the Sculptures

The five sculptures are meant to look like disks that are appearing to roll down the hill into the park. They depict the emotional and physical transition that a park can create for visitors. The transition is whatever stress or life issues people have when they enter a park to what it becomes when they’re inside. Each disk has a sculpture of a critter on each side that represents the type of fauna that exists in the park.

There are ten critters; bird, rabbit, butterfly, frog, squirrel, egret, duck, lizard, owl and otter. Each critter appears to be speaking with a banner that comes out of their mouth. The words on the banners talk about relaxing in the park.

Each disk has a quote on each side from famous people or proverbs. The quotes are about the importance of taking time to become relaxed and reduce stress. The quotes are listed below.

The disks use colors to show the transition from stressed at the top of the hill near the park entrance, red and orange, to increasingly cooler colors on the way down the hill to super relaxed, blue and purple on the disk near the creek.

The sculptures are made from hand-built and cast concrete and hand-painted.

The idea began when I visited the park and experienced its unique geography. Hills in St. Petersburg are rare and that makes the hills along the creek in Roser Park extra dramatic. I wanted to use that slope in the artwork and it made sense to create the illusion of things rolling downhill. I enjoyed making the ten critters and hearing what they say. We all need to find time to relax so let’s listen to the critters and go to the park!