A LOCAL ART LEGACY • Liberty Hill International Sculpture Park

by Ann Marie Kennon

Mel Fowler

In a state where rock is mostly used for construction, local artist Mel Fowler used it to create a collection of monument sculptures that have made Liberty Hill a destination city for artists and nature lovers alike.

The Liberty Hill International Sculpture Park is a local landmark that is also distinguished by firsts. Nearly all of its 28 sculptures were created in 1976 at the seven-week International Sculpture Symposium — it was the first time the event was held in the southwest United States. Then, in 1987, the symposium collection, and two additional pieces from Jim Thomas and Mel Fowler, were moved and co-located on the grounds of Liberty Hill Intermediate School and the adjacent Lions Foundation Park, which made it the first recorded international sculpture garden located on the grounds of a school.

Mel Fowler was not just a world-traveling artist. Attracted to art and drawing from a young age, he later became a field test pilot and combat aviator and flew 144 missions in China during World War II. But he continued to sketch, draw, and paint throughout his adult life so after attending the 1974 Germany symposium he organized the 1976 event and welcomed 25 established and emerging artists, representing lands from Texas to Tunisia, to Liberty Hill.

They arrived with little more than the clothes they wore on the plane — to make sure their tools made the trip but their luggage didn’t go over the allowed weight. There were fewer than 500 people living in Liberty Hill at the time but many opened their homes to their artistic visitors, some of whom spoke little English, and hosted them throughout the work period. As well, the whole population of Liberty Hill ebbed and flowed as the symposium drew a steady stream of spectators, from school children to national artists, and was featured in print and broadcast media across the country. Meanwhile, the sculptures themselves were designed and chipped from $90,000 in donated native granite, limestone, serpentine, granite, and marble from Texas quarries and local companies.

Notable Pieces

While sculptors tend to be less wellknown than artists in other media, the 25 sculptors who contributed to the park do have the distinction and prestige of having their work registered by the Smithsonian Institution, one of the largest museum systems in the world. Being included in the museum’s collections means each is part of a vast family of art, artifacts, and specimens from around the world. Sculptures that are part of the Smithsonian's collections are typically considered to be of significant cultural, historical, or scientific importance. It also means each sculpture is part of the permanent collections of the Smithsonian and may be preserved and cared for by the institution for future generations to enjoy and learn from.

Dana Smith - LHSculptures.com

Dana Smith’s Verdie Vaughan was carved from limestone. Dana’s works have been in shows throughout the southwest, but she explained to a reporter that she did not know what her stone was going to be before she started. Her sculpture, she said, was an extension of what she was trying to say in all her art, but she did not like to talk about her primary themes, preferring to let viewers interpret her work for themselves. She did, however, disclose that she always works from a philosophy of using whatever materials are available. While at the symposium, she crafted a new formula for painting on sculpture by combining ancient Roman and Egyptian recipes and incorporating beeswax supplied by a local farmer.

From LHSculptures.com: One of the delights of a sculpture placed in nature is that each time you revisit the piece a new aspect may reveal itself. The light will be different, the surface may be damp, or algae may have grown along a surface. And don’t forget that depending on from where you approach the sculpture may look entirely different.

Jim Thomas’ Forgotten Ancestors (above) is an atypical depiction from Texas history. His sculpture includes the skull of a longhorn in river sand with a conquistador helmet and spur. The conquistadors were the first known Europeans to explore what would be Texas lands but their surveys preceded the era of westward expansion that has become a fixture in the romance of our state’s history. Jim said, “The symbolism is that the Spanish explorers trailed their live commissary [longhorns] with them as they traveled, butchering them as needed. The longhorn skull is derived from a mold off a selected longhorn skull from the ranch at my home in Texas and the helmet and spur are from molds I made from authenticated artifacts.”

He added that steers were his favorite subject and two of his longhorn pieces won gold medals in the Texas Cowboy Artists Association. Aside from the Texas theme, however, his sculpture is particularly special because it contains a time capsule from America’s bi-centennial year.

The park is located at Liberty Hill Intermediate School at 101 Loop 332 in Liberty Hill but can also be accessed through Lions Foundation Park at 355 Loop 332. Both parks are free and open to the public.