2018 ArtAround Roswell Sculpture Tour Starts April 14

ROSWELL, GA — The Roswell Arts Fund is gearing up to debut its third annual ArtAround Roswell Sculpture Tour, which will feature 10 original works on display throughout the city. These temporary pieces will join six permanent ArtAround sculptures purchased from tours in 2016 and 2017.

The tour's opening celebration will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, April 14 at Riverside Park. This free event will be located near Ice Pops, a giant colorful popsicle sculpture by artist Craig Gray, sponsored by Synovus.

This family-friendly celebration will feature entertainment, including a live band and dance performances, a ribbon cutting, interactive games, food trucks, arts and crafts activities, King of Pops popsicles, and more. Mini-tours of ArtAround will be offered and shuttle service, courtesy of Carl Black Roswell will be provided on a free, but limited, basis (For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here).

“In addition to several returning sponsors, we are thrilled to have a number of new sponsors participate in ArtAround Roswell this year. As always, we are tremendously grateful to all of our ArtAround sponsors for their support of public art in our city,” said Heidi Speckhart, Roswell Arts Fund development director. “We are looking forward to activating the tour through a series of events and activities and hope to make this year’s tour the best yet.”

An ArtAround Roswell audio tour, with commentary from the artists about their inspirations, materials and processes, is available from Otocast, which can be downloaded from iTunes or Google Play.

Three new locations have been added to this year’s tour: Roswell Cultural Arts Center, Hembree Park, and Leita Thompson Park near the Arts Center West Entrance. The tour has also been extended by three months to run from April 14 to March 2019. Other sculptures on the 2018 tour include:

• "Celestial Fish" by Donald Gialanella at Roswell Area Park Lake, sponsored by Canton Place Development.
• "Granite Ring" by Chris Rothermel at Roswell Cultural Arts Center, sponsored by Miller Lowry Development.
• "The Uniting of Work and Spirit" by Robert Clements at Mill Park, sponsored by Randall-Paulson Architects.
• "Votive" by Gregory Johnson at Don White near Volleyball, sponsored by Lennar Multifamily Communities.
• "Open Low-Poly Heart" by Matthew Duffy at East Roswell Park Entrance, sponsored by Gas South.
• "Dual Nature by Cecilia Lueza" at Big Creek Park Entrance of Old Alabama Rd, sponsored by Aesthetic Speciality Centre Plastic Surgery & Dermatology.
• "Horse Apple" by James Hetherington at Leita Thompson, Arts Center West Entrance, sponsored by Pieper O’Brien Herr.
• "Social Tones" by Nathan Pierce at Hembree Park, sponsored by ALDI, Inc.
• "Ask the Fish 2.0" by Dr. Stephen Fairfield at Don White Park at 400 Bridge, sponsored by Carl Black Roswell Buick, GMC.

After receiving more than 70 sculpture entries, the ArtAround Roswell Public Art Selection Panel, narrowed the selection to 1o unique pieces. This panel is comprised of diverse Roswell stakeholders including business, civic and community leaders as well as art professionals. Pieces were selected based on a number of criteria, including quality, diversity and how the sculpture would spark conversation and activate spaces. Other factors included size, safety and aesthetics.

“ArtAround Roswell sculptures tell a story, provoke curiosity, delight visitors as well as beautify our landscape and embody Roswell’s Modern Spirit, Southern Soul,” said Rochelle Mucha, chair of the Roswell Arts Fund. “We invite the community to explore and enjoy.”

For more information about the ArtAround Roswell 2018 sculpture tour or Roswell Arts Fund, visit roswellartsfund.org.

Photo: "Radiance" by Gregory Johnson at East Roswell Park. Credit: Roswell Arts Fund