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How birds inspired St. Paul, Minnesota's newly transformed Western Sculpture Park
In the historic Rondo neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota, a new art-driven playground now serves as a symbol of hope and joy to children and families who reside there. Constructed during the height of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the recently transformed Western Sculpture Park is a space the surrounding community has cherished and frequented for years. The new design features bright colors, a flourishing maple tree, new playground equipment — and most notable of all, three large sculptures of “Birds at Play.” At the community dedication of the new play space, a thirteen-year-old boy who lives along the park stated, “This just makes me feel happy.”
Nestled between apartment buildings that are home to many immigrant and refugee families from Mexico, Somalia, South African nations and Southeast Asia, Western Sculpture Park has traditionally been a place for residents of all ages to gather and play. But after years of use, the park — in particular the 26-year-old play area — was overdue for an update. Owned by the City of Saint Paul, renovations at Western Sculpture Park came to fruition through a two-year collaboration between the city and Public Art Saint Paul, a nonprofit organization that has curated sculptures for this park since 1998, along with infusing artistic flair, inspiration and imagination into public places throughout the community.
Art increasingly has been used in parks to create deeper and more meaningful connections between communities and public spaces. Incorporating art into seemingly unexpected places can create a site that is meaningful and personal while connecting park visitors to one another.
An Artistic Vision Comes Into Play
“We had our eye on the playground for a while, so when Saint Paul Parks and Recreation reached out about breathing new life into the space, we jumped at the opportunity,” says Bianca Pettis, the artist behind the concept for “Birds at Play.” Pettis worked closely with Aaron Dysart and Sieng Lee from Public Art Saint Paul to re-envision the former playground, forming a cohort of artists who understood the importance of incorporating community voice into this very special park renovation project — ultimately expanding the partnership between the city and the artists group to include the local community.
With a background in theater, Pettis rediscovered herself as a visual artist in 2015, using drawings she made as a child as the inspiration for her artmaking. She is widely known for her contributions as part of the sound art duo Beatrix*Jar,
working in tandem with her husband and creative partner, Jacob Aaron Roske, on sound design and production.
Dysart has been a city artist with Public Art Saint Paul since 2016, using his work to explore the intersection between the built and natural environment. Dysart leveraged his background in artistic play equipment fabrication to support the Western Sculpture Park project. Lee, also engaged by Public Art Saint Paul, is a Hmong artist who specializes in creating art rooted in community identity, lending his talents for the neighborhood engagement events.
The artists cohort of Pettis, Dysart and Lee, working in partnership with Bianca Paz, project manager and landscape designer for Saint Paul Parks and Recreation, hosted a series of pop-up community engagement events to connect with local kids about the project. “Bianca Paz is incredible on so many levels. While [she] would argue she was doing her job, she was just always [going] above and beyond. Bianca was really connected with the community when we worked on the project. She has children of her own and really spent a lot of time watching children play, researching the history of the site, and securing more funding for the project,” recalls Pettis. She adds that Paz was the pivotal force in the team’s community outreach.
Children and families attended events at Rondo Library where kids drew pictures of what they would like to see in the park, dreaming big about a place where they could play and run around with their friends. Given the kids’ desire for a place that provides opportunities for active recreation, the artist cohort realized the need to get creative about the new art installation at Western Sculpture Park, leading the team to invent a type of amenity Saint Paul had never seen before: an “art playground” that infuses traditional play elements with artistic character.
The stuffed birds Pettis brought to one gathering — little sewn fabric creatures born out of cartoon drawings from Pettis’ childhood — got a lot of play, hugs and attention from the children. Lovingly known as Art Pets, Pettis had been selling these “pets with no mess” at craft fairs and holiday events for years prior to the playground project. Her Art Pets project provided a bit of “unforeseen market research” for the Western Sculpture Park playground, according to Pettis. Dysart created the drawings for the park design based on Pettis’ physical birds, working closely with Paz to ensure that the designs met all safety requirements for the toddler play area. When asked about the community engagement experience, Pettis reflected how “artists can act as translators, giving physical form to people’s hopes, dreams and desires.”
The play area’s large, colorful and playful birds have become the focal point of the park, and are even considered the park mascots, according to some community members. While each bird has a different personality, Pettis took special care to ensure the visual identity of each bird is not too prescriptive, allowing children to use their imagination to invent their own narrative behind each bird’s feelings and story. While sculptures, the playfulness of the structures encourages children to climb on top of the birds and to treat the birds just as they would any other playground equipment. Even for adults visiting the park, the birds provide an opportunity to embrace imagination, no matter how old they are.
“The community engagement efforts really led to building something useful for our community,” Paz explains. During the community events, the neighborhood children showed interest in having a basketball court on the site. While funding didn't allow for the construction of a basketball court, Saint Paul Parks and Recreation tried to provide a similar play opportunity by installing a Plinkoball (sometimes referred to as “drop shot”) hoop. The Plinkoball hoop has three different hoop heights, which expands the pool of potential users to all heights, ages and abilities. A group of volunteers helped paint a maze on the Plinkoball court to complement the game and add another element to the play space. Additionally, Saint Paul Parks and Recreation planted flower gardens in the park per a request from adult community members; these gardens are being tended by volunteers who live in the adjacent apartment blocks. “Our community members are proud of this space, of their local backyard,” says Paz.
In addition to the bird installation, the renovation includes a climbing dome, benches, a sand lot, bicycle parking and other children’s play structures.
Forging Meaningful Partnerships
By building partnerships with other groups in the community, park and recreation agencies can more effectively meet the demand for parks and green spaces that address community needs. The partnership between Saint Paul Parks and Recreation and Public Art Saint Paul is just one example of a successful partnership that led to positive outcomes for the community. As park and recreation agencies decide how to best allocate budget and resources, partnership building will be a critical component of delivering vital community services.
Collaboration between Saint Paul Parks and Recreation and Public Art Saint Paul, a fusion between the fields of parks and recreation and the arts, won’t stop with “Birds at Play.” Per Saint Paul’s Public Art Ordinance Program, all local capital funding is required to set aside at least one percent of funds for public art. According to Dysart, the artists hope that one day, “the local kids from the Rondo neighborhood will come back to the park and remember the iconic-ness of their childhood, returning to the birds and remembering the hours spent playing here.” Public Art Saint Paul organizes and hosts youth summer programs to bring artistic and environmental education opportunities to the neighborhood.
Funding for this project was made possible in part by the Connecting Communities to Outdoor Play grant program, a collaboration between Target and NRPA that is designed to increase opportunities for communities to play and spend time in nature. While support from Target made the sculpture installation possible, funding has allowed Saint Paul Parks and Recreation to engage meaningfully with the community and build partnerships that will continue to support the health, well-being and resiliency of the community for years to come.
For more information on how to build your own successful partnerships, check out the article “Making the Most of Your Partnerships” from the November 2020 issue of Parks & Recreation magazine.
Editor’s note: This article has been modified from its print version.
Teresa Morrissey is NRPA’s Program Manager, Park Access