public art

On a busy corner in downtown Palm Springs, Calif., stands an unusual sculpture that artfully moves water through the hot desert air. The work of New York sculptor David Curt Morris, ‘The Rainmaker’ was commissioned by community leaders who hoped the fountain would become a landmark celebrating the life-giving power of water in the driest of climates while providing passersby with a place to cool off, relax and play.

Spirited Waters

In 1997, the City of Palm Springs Arts Commission held a national competition for a sculpture to be placed in a prominent public space, the Frances Stevens Park. I was intrigued by the site's high visibility - and by the fact that the California city wanted a sculpture that used water in a desert setting. Working from my studio on the East Coast, I put together an initial proposal that included a number of ideas - provocative to me, but not yet fine-tuned. It wasn't until I actually visited the site in Round Two of the selection process that I knew just how perfect a setting was being offered - a wide-open space in the center of town, ringed by tall palm trees and low-lying buildings with the stunning

With his rugged works of shaped water and stone, Colorado-based sculptor Richard Hansen has spent a career exploring what he calls ‘poetic dialogues’ between nature and humanity, permanence and ephemera, distance and intimacy. But his interest in the materials he uses goes well beyond such philosophical notions: He’s a hands-on artisan who particularly enjoys, he says, the unique sound that stone makes when it splits.

Poetry in Stone

The avant-garde composer John Cage once said, “Art exists to make us aware of the very life we’re living.” I’ve always loved that statement because, as someone working to create works of art, the experiences of my own life have naturally been transferred into the way I’ve chosen to express myself – and, I hope, have enabled me to succeed in bringing other people to an awareness of experiences in their own lives. For me, water is the key in these transferences: Even though I’m probably more often described as a sculptor of natural stone rather than as a watershaper, the dialogues I have with the materials I use and with those who observe the outcomes have always begun with the way I work with water. I grew up in the Midwest on the banks of the Mississippi. As a child, I lingered on the untamed shores of the creeks, streams and rivers that laced across an otherwise developed and thoroughly mechanized landscape. I would read or draw, stroll idly along a stream, or spend hours building a raft or dam. This was well before I’d begun to think about my relationship with water in any sort of artistic way, but there’s no question that those experiences remain at the heart of my passion for working within this