A landmark sculpture at Alliance Park, Sipping From the Wetland by local artist Anitra Blayton, brings awareness to the vital role of a wetland in communities and the environment.
The larger-than-life sculpture is a symbol of the tiniest bird with the biggest heart in the animal world, the hummingbird, that visually narrates playfulness and vitality. The sculpture was dedicated Jan. 9 at Alliance Park, 3800 Litsey Road.
According to Blayton, Sipping From the Wetland is a culmination of patterns both natural and man-made.
Blayton held four shoe-tread collection events in the community to gather footprints for the hummingbird’s wings. Laser-cut designs gathered from neighbors created a participatory element for community members during the sculpture’s creation, while the resulting piece invites another type of engagement by the viewer while they stand beneath the hummingbird’s wings.
Sipping From the Wetland stands 23 feet tall and just over 24 feet at its widest point. The faceted, mirrored stainless-steel hummingbird includes a series of five wings on each side of its body to mimic the wings’ motion. All sandblasted stainless-steel wings include shoe treads submitted by over 200 community members. Its bluish color pilaster — a stationary mirrored abstraction with extending hoops mimicking ripples of water — pays homage to the park’s wetland.
This artwork was commissioned by the City of Fort Worth as part of its 2018 Bond Program. See original article from City of Fort Worth here