Evolution of a Street Corner

See how public art has transformed this intersection in Downtown Providence over five years.

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We are firm believers that public art transforms public space – but sometimes it can be hard to understand exactly how that process plays out over time. The art becomes such a part of the landscape and our perception of it that it’s easy to forget what the space looked like before. This gallery demonstrates one example of that process. The corner of Fountain and Dorrance Streets in Downtown Providence is the site of one of our sculpture pads, installed in 2015 as a way to develop permanent, sustainable infrastructure for public art in our city center. Here we provide a glimpse of the evolution of that corner over the course of five years and four sculptures.

Public art at the corner of Fountain and Dorrance Streets, 2015-2020

This is how the corner looked in 2015. As the city set out to redesign several corners in Downtown Providence, we proposed including sculpture pads as part of the build-out. The idea was to reimagine these corners as more than just functional intersections – to make them showcases for public art. The Avenue Concept funded the design and installation of these pads as a permanent investment in the city.

As work continued, The Avenue Concept installed the first sculpture on the new concrete pad as part of our INFLUX 2015 public art program. "Wheels with Wings" by Boston-based artist Gillian Christy was set against the backdrop of ongoing construction.

Gillian Christy's "Wheels with Wings" established a new presence for public art at one of the Downtown Providence's most heavily-trafficked intersections.

After the initial experiment with the sculpture pad proved successful, we decided to expand our investment to the surrounding hardscaping and plantings. We worked with Gravelly Hill Design Group and Premiere Landscape, both Rhode Island companies, to re-envision the corner as a bioswale, with hardscaping and native perennial plants that would both beautify the streetscape and help filter storm water runoff. The pop of nature also helped enhance the presentation of the art.

The new hardscaping and plantings provided the perfect backdrop for a new sculpture installation, "Column 6" by Charlestown, RI-base sculpture Gabriel Warren.

Gabriel Warren's "Column 6" stands at the corner of Fountain and Dorrance Streets in 2018. It is part of a series of works loosely based on the ice cores scientists drill out of frozen landscapes in Antarctica, where Warren had previously visited. Prior to "Column 6," his "Column 1" from the same series was installed at this corner in 2016.

The evolution continued with the installation of Vermont sculptor Leslie Fry's "Nestbuilder" in 2019.

Vermont sculptor Leslie Fry's "Nestbuilder" uses cast bronze to depict a bird-woman building her nest on a curving pillar that integrates images of hands, leaves, bricks, windows, columns, saws, hammers and nails – symbolizing building, creativity, growth, hope and home.

Finally, this is how the corner of Fountain and Dorrance Streets looks today, with Warren, RI sculptor Mark Wholey's "Follow Your Heart" standing proudly on the sculpture pad. The sculpture was installed in 2020 as part of our ongoing "Journey" public sculpture series.