20 years later, the Texas Sculpture Garden in Frisco’s HALL Park continues to bring arts to the community

Patricia Meadows remembers when the northbound Dallas North Tollway ended at Legacy Drive and when the land that developer Craig Hall bought in Frisco was essentially pasture land.

She remembers working with Hall to select artists who would transform four acres of his land into an homage to Texas sculpture.

She remembers going to an arts reception in El Paso and finding the first piece — a towering floral-themed display by James Surls — to add to the collection. She also remembers the grand opening in September 2002, when people dancing to the tunes of Brave Combo celebrated a brand new collection of Texas art in Frisco.

“It was just a great celebration of art and Texas artwork,” Meadows said. “A lot of people think that Texas art is bluebonnets and cowboys. It’s not. And when you’ve gone through there and realize the skill that it took to learn to do the kind of art that they’ve done, it’s a pretty amazing collection.”

Twenty years later, the Texas Sculpture Garden located at HALL Park still features an array of indoor and outdoor sculptures over a span of four acres. While the garden creates an elevated environment for those who work within HALL Office Park, the feature, open to the public, has also been host to community members, even featuring in wedding and holiday photo shoots. It has hosted college student tours, giving a snapshot look at some of the most important artists from the late ’90s and early 2000s and giving students exposure to a wide array of sculpture styles.

“The thing that pleases me is that all the artwork is still as relevant and looks as good and looks as fresh as it did then,” she said.

The collection comprised a wide breadth of Texas arts talent from across the state, ranging from large cities like Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth to smaller communities like Sanger and Ovilla. Materials range from stone to steel, showing off a kaleidoscope of themes and styles.

“I wanted to introduce Texas sculptors to people who might not know anything at all about our Texas artists,” Meadows said. “And so I tried to give a real variety in location and where they were from, what materials they worked with.”

As Meadows puts it, the garden is a gift from Hall to the city of Frisco.

“He could have used (that land) for brick and mortar buildings to rent,” she said. “Craig Hall is a fabulous art collector. He cares about artists and he cares about art, and he loves to give people the opportunity to enjoy it.”

In a press release, Hall said it was exciting to celebrate the 20-year milestone, as well as the impact the garden has had on both HALL Park and the Frisco community.

“Some of my favorite memories over the years have been seeing families take memorable wedding or graduation photos with the collection, and we look forward to continuing to make art accessible for everyone in our future development phases,” Hall stated.

Today, work continues on bringing in the future Kaleidoscope Park, a 5.7-acre park located in HALL Park, which will feature, among other amenities, arts programming and a butterfly-inspired sculpture by fiber artist Janet Echelman.

To mark the Texas Sculpture Garden’s 20th anniversary, HALL Park is inviting the community to participate in the Frisco Arts Walk and Run on Oct. 1. The event, which benefits the Frisco Arts Foundation, will highlight both the rest of HALL Park’s international art collection as well as “milestones and tour participants throughout the Texas Sculpture Garden” that was developed and introduced to the community 20 years ago.

“I loved putting it together. It was a great honor for me to put it together,” Meadows said. “It was an honor for me to work with Craig Hall. It was an honor for me to work with all of those artists, and I am really proud of what we did.”

Learn more at texassculpturegarden.org

Read the full article here.