Curtis Hixon Park, (sculpture).

Curtis Hixon Park, (sculpture).

Sonfist, Alan, 1946- , sculptor.

Price, Karla, landscape architect.

Valentine, Jim, landscape architect.

Nelson Construction, contractor.

Curtis Hixon Park, (sculpture).

Commissioned 1993. Dedicated March 4, 1995.

Digital Reference:

Mixed media, including trees, grass, plants, concrete, brick, tiles.

A landscaped park with sections and elements representative of Tampa's history. Entering the park from Ashley Drive, the paved plaza depicts the skyline of Tampa as viewed from across the river in 1900, 1927 and 1995. The layout of the sidewalks forms shapes of indigenous leaves, each representing a different plant community. The red maple leaf area symbolizes wetland forest, indicative of the vegetation that once covered the area. The turkey oak leaf and live oak leaf areas represent Sandhill communities and the Mesic hardwood forests respectively. The last leaf area, which intersects the entry plaza, depicts an orange leaf. It symbolizes man's development of agriculture and introduction of non-native plant species. A set of parallel grooves run at the outer edges of the walkway and represent the railroad tracks that once crossed the area. Leaf-shaped benches scattered throughout the park are decorated with blue and green tiles from Tampa's old Convention Center.

Allegory -- Place -- Tampa

Object -- Foliage -- Oak

Object -- Foliage -- Maple

Object -- Foliage -- Orange Blossom

Outdoor Sculpture -- Florida -- Tampa

Administered by City of Tampa, Art in Public Places, 1420 North Tampa Street, Tampa, Florida 33602

Located Curtis Hixon Park, Ashley street between 700 & 800 block, next to Tampa Museum, Tampa, Florida

The $40,000 project was funded by the City of Tampa, Art in Public Places One Percent for Art program, and was a collaborative effort between Sonfist, landscape architects Karla Price and Jim Valentine, and the City Park Department. The development of the site was also financed by a grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. The park was formerly the site of the Curtis Convention Center, built in 1965 and demolished in December 1993. The former center and the park are named after Curtis Hixon, a city alderman, county commissioner, and Tampa's 34th mayor. The new park was dedicated March 4, 1995.

Nearby plaque reads: NARRATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL LANDSCAPE OF TAMPA/In 1993, the Public Art Committee of the City of Tampa/commissioned environmental sculptor Alan Sonfist to participate in/a design collaboration with the City of Tampa Parks Department./The result of this design collaboration is this City/of Tampa park, an environmental sculpture with/many unique aspects specific to the Tampa/area.

IAS files contain diagrams of the park, text of additional plaques, and newspaper article from the Tampa Tribune, March 4, 1995.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Florida, Tampa survey, 1995.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

Control Number:

Horizon Information Portal 3.25_9382

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