Parks, Recreation & Leisure

Parks, Recreation & Leisure / Cultural Arts

Parkartte Projects

Art in Community Spaces | Arts in Work Spaces | Parkartte | Movement: Impressions of UA | Earthwork: Emerging Rangoli | Rotation

Since the early 1900s, Upper Arlington has largely been defined by the beauty of its landscape. Winding streets and community and neighborhood parks provide a structure for connections and gathering opportunities.

In recent years, the City's Parks & Forestry Division has increased efforts to enhance community gateways, parks and public spaces with landscaped beautification projects, with some stunning results.

Taking the next logical step in this process, the Cultural Arts Division has embarked on a complementary project, bringing art and landscape together through Arts in Community Spaces.

The Cultural Arts Division accepts a responsibility for expanding public experience with visual art through the Arts in Community Spaces program. Such art has enabled people in all societies better to understand their communities and individual lives.

The first Parkartte Project was installed in 2004 at a "parkette" located at the confluence of Cambridge Boulevard, Arlington Avenue and Devon Road. Parkettes are pockets of land that are too small for use as a regular park, but are suitable for development as a landscaped garden.

Poised and Ready

This particular parkette development was made possible through the combined efforts of City Staff, the Friends of the Arts and the Cultural Arts Commission.

We have added art as an enhancement to the space. The art was chosen by a jury and the community and is installed at a triangular space at the convergence of Cambridge, Arlington, and Devon roads.

The selection, Poised & Ready, was created by artist Craig Wedderspoon. It was selected through a jury and community voting process in the summer of 2004.

Wedderspoon writes, "My current work addresses aspects of the human body and how it relates to, exists in and moves through the spaces that surround it. Poised & Ready is an illustration of the anticipatory tension that builds up from within the mind and body moments before the realization of a long-awaited goal. Consisting of half mild steel and half stainless steel, Posed & Ready is designed for an outdoor setting where it can thrive in the exposure to the elements and in turn, as the mild steel begins to rust, make its mark on time as it ages and shifts in color throughout the seasons.”

Lynette Santoro-Au, Arts Manager
Cultural Arts Division
Parks & Recreation Department
City of Upper Arlington
3600 Tremont Road
Upper Arlington, OH 43221
Phone: 614-583-5310
lsantoroau@uaoh.net
www.ua-ohio.net