''Walk Like a River'' is a

public sculpture Public art is art in any media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and physically access ...

by Peter Flanary located at Riverside Park on the east side of

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. ''Walk Like a River'' consists of three sculptures--''Drop,'' ''Gather,'' and ''Flow''--installed throughout the park. The group of sculptures was commissioned by the Urban Ecology Center, a nonprofit organization.

Description

The elements of ''Walk Like a River'' are made of open bronze cages filled with fist-sized glacial stones in a variety of natural shapes and colors. ''Drop'' is one large round form, ''Gather'' is five round forms of varying sizes stacked together, and ''Flow'' is shaped like a wave or squiggle with squared-off ends.

Historical information

The works are arrayed throughout the neighborhood portion of Riverside Park, creating a path between N. Oakland Avenue and the Urban Ecology Center. According to the ''

Riverwest Currents The ''Riverwest Currents'' is a monthly newspaper published in Milwaukee, Wisconsin since 2001 by owner/publisher Vince Bushell. It has sometimes used the slogan "The Community Voice of Milwaukee's Left Bank," which was coined in 2001 by Dan Knauss ...

,'' the Urban Ecology Center's goal was to install artwork that would create a pathway to its new building in the southwest corner of Riverside Park. The Milwaukee Arts Board, Murph Burke, and Mary L. Nohl Fund of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation contributed financial support to the project.

Artist

Peter Flanary grew up in the Milwaukee area, and currently has a studio in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.
Flanary website. He was a part-time lecturer in the art department at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

UW Madison. His work frequently incorporates rocks and other environmental objects. His creation process is rarely direct. "He tries to grasp the space in its complexity and wants to create something that can be remarked on by people." "He likes material and form and works to have his piece support and work in its environment, growing out of, rather than intruding into the landscape." Flanary's work is all over Wisconsin, including three pieces at the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee.

References

{{MilwaukeePublicArt Outdoor sculptures in Milwaukee 2006 sculptures 2000s establishments in Wisconsin Granite sculptures in Wisconsin Bronze sculptures in Wisconsin

Description

Historical information

Artist

See also

References