Visit our new Boody Fine Arts and Public Art and Practice websites.
Brower Hatcher project unveiled.
Blair Buswell's Wagon Master of Pioneer Courage is installed.
Kent Ullberg's final bison installed.
Pat Kennedy's horses installed.
How to contact Boody Fine Arts.
Commissioning process explained.
Mailing list status.
Please check out our updated websites for Boody Fine Arts, Inc., at www.boodyfinearts.com, and Public Art & Practice, LLC, at www.publicartandpractice.com. Both websites were redesigned for easier navigation and better understanding of our services and project experiences. You can now find items such as current and past project descriptions and images, staff resumes and photos, descriptions of services offered, and much more.
Located in the heart of Council Bluffs, Iowa, Bayliss Park was recently redesigned from its 1800s original concept and rededicated on April 28, 2007.
Internationally recognized artist Brower Hatcher of Mid-Ocean Studio designed the park's new features, which include the breathtaking center elements for the new fountain entitled Wellspring, its performance pavilion Oculus, an interactive children's water feature, and seating for Bayliss Park. The multidiscipline firm of RDG Planning & Design created the park's Master Plan and collaborated with Hatcher and Public Art & Practice, LLC, for this project.
During the winter months, the powder-coated stainless steel rods of the Wellspring sculptural fountain will stand elegantly, crystalline in the winter sun and illuminated at night with LED lights; it will be a beacon in the snow. In summer, the fountain is activated by a geyser shooting water over the framework, cascading over the tiers of rings into the pool below. Additional water jets and lights complete the sequenced aquatic display.
Oculus consists of a multi-layered matrix built of a layered sequence of powder-coated stainless steel, which in the sun provides a prismatic rainbow of hues. At each vertex of this structure a mirrored stainless steel disk is inserted to reflect light.
The children's interactive water area includes six cast black squirrels, in bronze, standing nearly thirty inches tall. Integral to the design is a water feature that turns on when activated by the children.
The Iowa West Foundation funded Hatcher's art component for the Bayliss Park project and assisted the city in funding other portions of the project as well. Brower Hatcher is the first artist to be selected by the Artist Selection Panel assembled as a result of Public Art & Practice's completion of the City's Public Art Master Plan.
Boody Fine Arts recently assisted the architecture firm Space, LLC, to select and acquire art for the law firm Williams Venker & Sanders (located in downtown St. Louis) and their newly designed offices overlooking the Old Courthouse, Busch Stadium, and the Arch.
The artwork was selected in a two-stage process. Initially, BFA set up a private showing of our gallery to the clients and their design team where they hand-picked several possible pieces whose style, size, and format were well-suited for the space. In the final stage, a truck containing all of the potential pieces was delivered to Williams Venker & Sanders where the final selections could be made in the actual settings in which they would be displayed.
Works by artists Rebecca Crowell, Henry Isaacs, Peggy Sue Howard, and Gary Passanisse were placed in key focal areas for maximum visual impact. BFA has had a longstanding relationship with all four of the artists involved and is proud to be able to showcase their work in such a dynamic setting.
After seven years of phased installations, internationally renowned sculptor Kent Ullberg of Corpus Christi, Texas, recently installed his eighth and final phase for First National Bank of Omaha's Spirit of Nebraska's Wilderness site. Ullberg's final two bison are depicted in a full run and are place in and emerging from a landscaped flower bed that is structurally attached to the edge of a parking garage along the sidewalk. The concept behind the placement of the artwork was to recreate the landscape prior to the current urban setting; as if none of the surrounding buildings even exist.
Ullberg's finished wildlife monument consists of fifty-eight, eight-foot bronze and stainless steel Canada Geese taking flight from a large water feature. The geese seem to soar across the street as their placement on a traffic signal, light poles, a building corner, and several eighteen-foot bronze trees gives the illusion of flight. Several stainless steel geese suspended within the glass atrium of the bank's headquarters mark the final destination of the flock.
Photography courtesy of Jafe Parsons
Spirit of Nebraska's Wilderness site is made up of one-quarter city block, including additional bank property on all four corners of the 16th and Dodge intersection. The finished site includes eight bronze bison, several of which stand at eight feet high and weigh nearly 2,000 pounds, two cows and calves, and several yearling bulls. Ullberg's cows and calves have been strategically placed to engage visitors, particularly children, as they pass.
Ullberg's work has been shown all over the world, including the National Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, Sweden; the Salon d'Automne in Paris, France; the National Gallery in Botswana, Africa; the Exhibition Hall, Beijing, China; the Guildhall in London, U.K.; and the National Geographic Society, Washington, D. C. to name a few. He has also been honored with prestigious awards including the Prix de West Award in 1998 at the National Academy of Western Art; the Gold Medal for Sculpture in 1981, 1982, 1988, and 1990; the Rungius Medal in 1996 from the National Museum of Wildlife Art; and the Henry Hering Medal in 1993 from the National Sculpture Society for outstanding collaboration between architect and sculptor in a monumental sculpture.
For 150 years, the family-owned First National Bank of Omaha has played a significant role in financing the growth in the Midlands. Its early history mirrored Omaha's development as a vital center of commerce and a launching point for the expansion into the western United States. In 1854, the Lauritzen family's ancestors arrived in Omaha and three years later founded Omaha's first bank, trading gold dust and buffalo hides. Today, the Lauritzen family continues to invest in the economic and cultural growth of Omaha.
Boody Fine Arts, Inc., was retained in 1999 to assemble the team for this ambitious monumental project. Over the years, BFA has assisted the bank in a project management and implementation role, overseeing the vision of First National Bank.
In 2005 Pat Kennedy was commissioned to sculpt six wild horses at 1 1/4 life-size scale for Kansas City based developer, Matt Adam. Situated in Overland Park, Kansas, this new 320-acre residential development called Mills Farm will be completed in the upcoming years.
Using a split installation, Kennedy's first two horses were installed in Fall of 2006 as home presales began. The next four horses were recently installed in Spring of 2007 to coordinate with the neighborhood's grand opening ceremonies. The landscape architecture firm HNTB worked with Mills Farm and Kennedy to prepare the site and together they helped set the standard for residential sculpture in the Midwest.
Pat Kennedy has been a professional sculptor since 1978. He has explored a wide range of styles and techniques from loose, almost casual creations, to works which are sophisticated and grand. Thanks to over eight years in foundry work, Kennedy is skilled and knowledgeable in virtually every aspect of design and production of bronze sculpture.
Over a decade of military service, including tours of Vietnam and Germany, have fostered Kennedy's lifelong respect for the men and women who serve and for the symbols which have long represented strength, power, and integrity. His works which focus on the military have tremendous impact.
Pat also delights in creating interactive sculpture; works which invite the observer to walk in, sit down, crawl in, over, and around. In short, the sculptures can be enjoyed physically as well as visually. Examples of Pat's work can be found in a number of city collections and with private collectors. For example, Kennedy created the Lewis and Clark monuments for the city of Sioux City, Iowa, and the city of St. Charles, Missouri. Both projects are listed on our clients page.
In order to simplify access to Boody Fine Arts, Inc., for our customers, we are now eliminating some of the pre-existing email addresses that are no longer of use. If you care to email us, please do so at BFA@BoodyFineArts.com at our St. Louis office or HDinn@BoodyFineArts.com at our Indianapolis office. And of course, always feel free to call and talk to us in person, we would love you hear from you.
We are available for presentations to professional organizations, corporate clientele, and federal, state, or local groups concerning the process of selecting and/or commissioning public works of art, project management or assembling an art collection. Presentations concerning the process of creating a Public Art Master Plan and implementing the philosophical and procedural components of a Master Plan are also available to groups. Our PowerPoint presentations and lectures will address items such as: time requirements, selection process, correct scale or size, and budget issues, and can be individualized for your organization.
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