Art park will soon get sculptures

Jill Yates, program coordinator for welding at Texarkana College, and Erin Rodgers, communication coordinator for Texarkana, Texas, Parks and Recreation Department, discuss Tuesday where and what kind of sculpture will be built at the Bringle Lake Art Park in Texarkana, Texas. 
The Bringle Lake Art Park is a project that started from Texarkana, Texas Parks and Recreation department to clean up vandalism that covered the area with a goal to bring the community to the area.
Jill Yates, program coordinator for welding at Texarkana College, and Erin Rodgers, communication coordinator for Texarkana, Texas, Parks and Recreation Department, discuss Tuesday where and what kind of sculpture will be built at the Bringle Lake Art Park in Texarkana, Texas. The Bringle Lake Art Park is a project that started from Texarkana, Texas Parks and Recreation department to clean up vandalism that covered the area with a goal to bring the community to the area.

Tucked alongside the Bringle Lake Dam, the Bringle Lake Art Park currently combines the canvases of both nature and man, with brightly painted sidewalks, trees, flowers and flowing water. Soon, it will have metal sculptures to complement the existing scenery.

Jill Yates, coordinator of the welding department at Texarkana College, is working with her students and Erin Rogers, communication coordinator for the Texarkana, Texas, Park and Recreation Department, to develop ideas for the outdoor art.

"Right now, we are looking at a natural theme," Yates said. She's been leading the department for a year and has a background in art.

"I went to college to be an artist," she said. "Then I took a welding class to learn how to make the sculpture I designed and I never left the welding class. There's just so much you can do with it. It's not just art, it's functional. You can put paint on a canvas and hang it on the wall and it's great to look at, but with metal work you can make a door and it's still art, but it's functioning art. All outdoor stuff, I'm really into. I love outside."

Rogers said that after they painted the sidewalks earlier this year, she wanted to put in different art forms and get lots of artisans involved in the development of the park.

"Everything has been so easy," Rogers said. "I don't think anybody that I have contacted has said no. Everybody has been like 'What can I do and when?'"

Ledwell is the sponsor for the sculptures and will supply the materials for Yates' class to work their metal magic.

Rogers said she is hoping to get the artists and other students working together, as well.

"The goal is always to reach students because us as adults are always interested to things like this," she said. "We love to get involved in something that's outside of our work environment, but with kids, it's a little bit harder to get them to do stuff outside the mandated things, so finding a way to reach people who are competent and are experts in their fields is important for this project. I can't do it alone. I have to reach out to all the experts and network so reaching out to (Yates) and trying to reach students that way, that's bringing a whole other pool of artists who have not had their hands on a way of doing art through metal yet. It's really cool to get them to kind of push their own creative boundaries and it's also good for Texarkana to appreciate the artwork, too."

Yates said she was excited about having her students use their creativity on the sculptures.

"It gives them a really good opportunity to use that mind's eye and kind of visualize something before it is there in front of their face, which is something that in welding, print reading and design, that's just something that you have to have," she said. "You meet those people who just look at stuff and see things you don't see. So we're trying to train them to get in that direction. It also makes them feel really good that they can use the skill they just learned to create something."

Rogers said those who wish to be a part of the project can go out to the park on July 20, which is the next work day. Community members, young and old, are welcome to attend and help with the project, she added.

"How often do we invite them to be a part of a project that's exciting?" she asked. "You'll see alligators and you'll see snakes and you'll probably be eaten up by mosquitoes, but you'll have the time of your life and do something you've never done before. I love that it's pushing people to see outside of what they thought Texarkana was."

Yates said she hopes the sculptures will be in place by the end of July. A ribbon cutting for the park is scheduled for Aug. 3.

For more information on the project, go to the Texarkana, Texas ,Parks and Recreation's Facebook page or contact Rogers at 903-244-6653.

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