We are very excited about the two recent public art installations that were a part of the National Endowment for the Arts OUR TOWN grant which was awarded in 2018 to the Batesville Area Arts Council in collaboration with Batesville Main Street. The whole process was delayed a year because of Covid.  The HeART & Sole project has 3 parts. These two public art installations are part of the focus to continue to enliven downtown Batesville.  Building a concept design for a Living Walnut Street Corridor, which includes a plan for streetscape transformation and some initial price analysis was another aspect of the grant. The third portion of the grant involved inventory analysis and land-use planning as well as a parking study in our downtown and historic districts.

 

The project aligns with initiatives identified by the community, Batesville Main Street , and the City of Batesville’s strategic plan for attracting investment and creating a more vibrant and thriving downtown.  

The first installation, on Walnut street across from The Sherman Bier Garten, was created and painted especially for Batesville by  Artist Yulia Avgustinovich, from Lakewood, Colorado. "A Tale of Our Town" was dedicated with a Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting on September 2, 2021.

​

​

​

 

 

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second art piece, "Holzhacker Buam" (Woodman Guys) was installed September 2021, on the Hill-Rom/Baxter clock tower in downtown Batesville. Local artists, Chaz Kaiser and Andrea Grimsley, designed their tribute to our city’s founders and heritage based on European cuckoo clock elements. They used 16 gauge aluminum, the pieces were hand-cut and formed by hand (using repousse’ technique) hammered into the desired dimensional shapes, welded together, primed and hand painted to create a truly unique installation. 

 

Both of these projects were chosen out of over 160 applicants worldwide (mostly national applicants but we did have a few from Canada and Europe)

 

To learn more about the artists, please use the links to visit their websites.

Yulia Avgustinovich : http://yulia-art.com/

Chaz Kaiser: https://www.amstudio.us/

Andrea Grimsley: https://www.andreagrimsley.com/about