In early 2012, the Greater Augusta Arts Council was named as the Public Arts Agency for the City of Augusta. One of the goals of the agency is to establish a program of high quality public art in Augusta.



Brenda Durant

Dennis Skelly

Dennis Skelley and Brenda Durant, Executive Director of the Greater Augusta Arts Council, updated the commission Tuesday for the first time since the Public Art Advisory Panel was formed in 2017.

According to Skelley, the advisory panel’s Vice President for Public Art, the first sculpture to be placed by the group is slated to be completed in roughly twelve months and will be located at the intersection of Riverwatch Parkway and Alexander Drive.



Denver’s “big blue bear” public art installation

The design is being chosen from three finalists who have been chosen by the Public Art Agency, made up of seven local volunteers representing a cross section of the city. The finalists are being compensated $3,000 each, and their conceptual design drawings and statuette prototypes are becoming property of the city.

The artist chosen will furnish the necessary services to design, construct and install the structure. The budget for the initial monumental installation is $225,000 and is funded via the SPLOST 7 referendum approved on November 3rd, 2015.

The overall budget for the three installations is one million dollars.

There are three Gateway locations identified by the Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau to receive a public art installation with the program. The other two installations will be at Sand Bar Ferry Road at Bobby Jones Expressway and Doug Barnard Parkway near the airport.

(Cover Image: Sea Monsters HERE, a temporary inflatable sculpture installed at Building 611 at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia.)