Symphonic Stroll

by Leticia Bajuyo

Visually inspired by gothic architecture and spider’s legs and webs, the structure holding up Swing Set: Share a Share (Duyan: Ibahagi ang Balato) locks together into a geometric pattern that radiates from the hub of this sculptural wheel. The wood seats of the swing are carved, sculpted, and personalized by members of the Filipinx Artists of Houston.

Each seat is a portrait - a story. These voices share the swing set as a community whose backgrounds and lived experiences have been translated into a space where each story contributes to the collective.

OK to swing on with respect.

More here.

by Antoinette Schultze

Vertical and horizontal ribbons meander up, down, around, under and over each other, intersecting in the center of the sculpture to form a crossroads. This is symbolic of all the intersecting past events and forces that create a life and a community. The blue squared glass that adorns the top is a symbol of the source of all life, where everything becomes one.

by Céline Browning

Fly Away is a bird blind meant to be enjoyed by visitors while viewing the surrounding landscape. The sculpture is made up of four steel archways and twenty-one steel panels. Each set of steel panels features a pair of plants and birds native to Kentucky. Following the panels from the bottom to the top of the structure, the birds appear to be taking flight and flying away. The overhead panels show the six different bird species featured on the side panels, with eighteen silhouettes in total. The design of the structure was inspired by the work of the artist's mother, Annette Barbier, particularly her final piece of public art, which remained unfinished at the time of her death in 2017.

by Kari Reardon

Reardon Artist Statement: “My work is inspired by a variety of sources ranging from personal memories, dreams, biology, absurdities to fairy tales. Through clusters and repetition I create a sense of movement and growth by which my objects share a sense of their own passage of time and history. Mixed media allows me to explore and play with texture and the contrasts of organic vs. man-made. By working intuitively I allow each one of my pieces to lead me down the path of self-exploration. Their purpose is to manufacture the fantastic and to evoke both a childlike wonder and a dark psychological underside where monsters still exist and memories and dreams blur in and out of reality.”

by Gordon Gildersleeve

Gildersleeve Artist Statement: "Life is so precious, and I fear so many of us are so busy planning and waiting to enjoy it that it may sail right past at that last minute to board… " 

This was a quote from Gordon taken from an article about him in Ace Magazine 2/1/2024.

by Linda Bruckheimer

Photographer and author Linda Bruckheimer has travelled Kentucky’s countryside to document the American farmstead. She captures the cultural, physical, and historical significance of the disappearing rural landscape and ways of life that shape our regional heritage. A nostalgic symbol of Kentucky’s agricultural past and present, these farm images are a testament to the enduring beauty and perseverance of rural Kentucky. Josephine Sculpture Park is part of Kentucky’s agricultural legacy, established in 2009 on what had been the family farm of Founding Director Melanie VanHouten. JSP’s event barn was once a tobacco barn built in the 1960s, abandoned in the 1990s, and restored in 2021. JSP protects the rural landscape by conserving 40 acres of native wildflower meadows, fields, and woodlands.

by Andrea Wilson Mueller

All living things are born or sprouted, grow, die, and are reborn. We live through different stages within our lives with transformations and awakenings - like the caterpillar that becomes a butterfly or moth or the plant that goes dormant and comes back for many seasons throughout many years. This sculpture of nests symbolizes the cradle for hatching/ birth; the reincarnation and metamorphosis of invasive species (Japanese bush honeysuckle) to become something entirely new; and growth through a diverse selection of plants to host and feed butterfly and moth species. As a natural sculpture, this place and it’s elements within will go through metamorphosis and grow with the park while creating habitat for the species to also go through metamorphosis.

by Peyton Scott Russell
Symphonic Stroll 5th Anniversary Community Mural

“Graphology is the study of lettering, typography, and hand writing that captures a personal identity,” shares Russell, and “-henge” alludes to "a large circle of earth, stone, or wood that encloses a space of special importance."

Together, “Graphology is the study of lettering, typography, and hand writing that captures a personal identity,” shares Russell, and “-henge” alludes to "a large circle of earth, stone, or wood that encloses a space of special importance."

A repeated site over the past five years, LexPhil and JSP are excited to feature the sculpture once more as an art making site during Symphonic Stroll led by Teaching Artist Leah Childs.

Leading Community Mural

Leah is an artist and teacher born and raised in Frankfort, KY. She is the Senior Program Leader at Yes Arts, Ceramics Instructor at Broadway Clay, and owner of LJC Studio.

Growing up in a small, rural town, Leah developed a deep appreciation for the power of creativity and community. Her experience fuels a strong desire to create a welcoming, collaborative space for the arts.

At Symphonic Stroll, paint a community mural celebrating the even't 5th anniversary with Leah, on GRAPHOLOGYHENGE by Peyton Scott Russell!