Chuck Mettler, left, and Phil Barber are dwarfed by the giant clothespin last summer at the South Des Moines Sculpture Park. Mettler, a co-founder of the park, welcomes the idea of a new neighborhood group.

A Des Moines neighborhood association is planning to  use my sculpture park as a center point of their neighborhood association.   I’m thrilled…. perhaps they’ll sit in my art chairs during the meetings?

It’s also fun to see the park and the festival get a bit more press.  The turnout was fantastic, and it’s great that people have noticed.  Here’s an excerpt:

Mettler and friend Phil Barber held an art festival at the park last year, which drew about 800 people. They’ve scheduled another one for September. He said the neighborhood association will be a good way to get more people to enjoy the privately financed park known for its larger-than-life replicas of everyday objects, such as its giant clothespin.

Thanks to the Des Moines Register for getting the story out.

Chuck Mettler
Furniture Artist, Accent Chair Artist, Newest Fan of the Neighborhood Association

The Des Moines Register

SCULPTURES, SNACKS A BIG HIT
By Janet Klockenga, Des Moines Register
Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Art enthusiasts, neighbors and the curious stopped by a blossoming sculpture park on the city’s south side Saturday to peruse the sculpture and check out work by neighborhood artists.
The first South Des Moines Sculpture Park Art Festival was organized by south-siders Phil Barber and Chuck Mettler.  It was a free festival with 12 booths featuring Des Moines artists affiliated with Metro Arts Alliance, as well as a musician, kids’ activities and free hot dogs and hamburgers for all.
The festival was held at the corner of McKinley Avenue and Southwest Eighth Street in a lot that Barber bought about two years ago.  The 50-foot-wide lot extends for two city blocks south from McKinley and is part of the old city trolley system.  Barber and Mettler installed some of their own pieces of art and opened the property as a sculpture park last year.
The men were happy with the steady stream of visitors on Saturday.  In fact, they said, people arrived about an hour before the art fair was scheduled to open.
“We’re trying to get this started as an annual thing,” Mettler said.  “We’d like to have an art festival every year for the Des Moines community—especially for the south side.  We’re hoping this will ignite enthusiasm for future festivals.”
“We did this for the people,” Barber said.  “This is our stimulus package.  We think it’s off to a pretty good start.”

Pretty Cool.  And fun.  Thanks Des Moines Register!

The Des Moines Register

CROWD COMES EARLY TO VIEW ART SCENE
Two men who created the visual attraction earn praise from their former teacher at Lincoln.
By Jared Strong, Des Moines Register
Tuesday, September 29, 2009

A first-time art festival brought about 800 people to the South Des Moines Sculpture Park on Sept. 19.
It also reunited two art students and a teacher who hadn’t seen each other for decades.
The art students were Phil Barber and Chuck Mettler, two longtime friends who created the sculpture park at the corner of Southwest Eighth Street and Southwest McKinley Avenue.
The art teacher was Donna Yeast, who retired nine years ago from Lincoln High School.  She remembered Barber for being the president of the school’s Dorian Art Club shortly after she began teaching at the school in 1968.
“It was an honorary art club that they don’t have anymore,” Yeast recalled last week.  “Students were picked from the quality of work and their attitude and behavior.”
Yeast said Barber “was a real character and really outgoing.  He seemed to have a really good following from the other students.”
She had heard of the sculpture park, which opened last year, but didn’t know that Barber and Mettler were the ones behind it until she read about this year’s festival.
“It was a nice art fair.  It’s an eye-catching place,” said Yeast, who also lives on the south side. “It’s really rewarding to see people follow along in the footsteps they started in high school.”
The chance meeting between students and teacher was an added bonus for a successful first time event, Barber said.
“It was really good, man.  Everybody had a blast,” he said.  “This was our trial run, and it went really, really well.”
Barber and Mettler plan to expand the festival next year to include 20 art vendors—they had a dozen this year—and more live music.  Joryn Brown, a 14-year-old blues guitarist who recorded his first original song nine years ago, played this year.
The festival was supposed to start and noon, but people began arriving about 100 a.m.  A steady stream came and went until about 4 p.m., Barber said.
Councilman Brian Meyer was among the attendees.
“It’s really, really cool stuff,” he said.  “They had a big turnout, and they want to make it even bigger next year. … I’ll do what I can to help.”

Thanks Des Moines. It was my pleasure.