The call for the 26th Annual Florida Outdoor Sculpture competition will open November 15. To request the prospectus in advance, please email LakelandParkRec@Lakelandgov.net.
The 25th Florida Outdoor Sculpture Competition is on display on the Lemon Street Promenade and Lakeland Public Library through the end of 2025. In the fall of 2024, artists submitted applications through an online application process for consideration in the 2025 show. A jury comprised of City staff, Polk Museum of Art representatives, and members from the local arts community gathered to review the submissions. Artists submitted over 70 sculptures for review, with the jury picking 11 of the best to display.
For the third year, the footprint of the exhibit space has expanded to include one sculpture at the Lakeland Public Library on Lake Morton. The remaining ten sculptures cover three blocks of Lemon Street between South Florida and Massachusetts Avenue. The artwork along the Lemon Street Promenade and Library provides a great aesthetic that can be enjoyed on a weekend stroll or as a diversion while visiting the swans on Lake Morton. This year, visitors can look forward to a diverse display, from a bronze representation of Rosa Parks stepping onto the bus (Rosa Parks Stepping into Equality) to two insects represented larger than life on Lemon Street: ants on Always Workin' and a butterfly on Pollinator. Check out the city-created ESRI map below or the Otocast app to learn more about this year's artists and sculptures.
Pam Page, Deputy Director of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Arts, said, “The sculptures on Lemon Street were introduced to provide free access to public art for all who live and visit our community. We are fortunate to live in a City that recognizes the value of public art that introduces culture and well-being.”
Previous years:
2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
Check back for more info on voting for your favorite as People's Choice.
Inter - Dimensional Species
Medium: Aluminum, epoxy powder coat, metal coating, acid, dye lacquer
Artist's Description
Inter Dimensional Species are life forms that exist around us but cannot be seen. They are playful and full of unlimited energy beckoning human awareness.
Artist's Statement
My sculpture is about finding the unknown through the focus and physical work of creation.
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Hey!
Medium: Steel Sculpture
Artist's Description
This sculpture is a representation of the national symbol for bicycle routes. The piece is made of extra heavy duty steel plate and stand as a warning and message to motorized vehicles to be aware and respectful to cyclist with whom they share our Highway and road on a daily basis.
I gave the sculpture a rust patina so that it would stand out and be loud. Recently I read; The seductive surfaces of a rusted door or pile of metal have been a source of inspiration for artists and filmmakers over the course of time. It’s our basic human instinct to elevate the underdog, the abandoned, the neglected, and give them renewed importance. Rust is the most visible result of entropy, yet rust also protects, often described as a sacrificial element in architecture. Rust is poetic, time-worn, and open to interpretation. Rust is impermanent, transient, organic in its beauty.
Artist's Statement
As an artist I want to make sculpture that exhibits the skills and techniques that I have developed as a metal worker over the last 30 years. My method of sculpting steel is uniquely a product of my involvement and experiences in the metal fabrication and ship building industry of La. As a sculptor I have taken this experience and modified it into techniques to carved and shape steel figurative sculptures that are uniquely identifiable as my work.
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The Reader
Medium: GFRC concrete, paint, UR clear coat
Artist's Description
I like to read and respect authors much more than sports stars or pop culture celebrities. Our culture seems to be moving away from reading and this sculpture is meant to emphasize the importance of what books can do for our lives.
Artist's Statement
I use images and words to engage viewers in imaginative contemplation about the weirdness and beauty of our brief appearance in the infinity of time. Since 1980 when I began my professional career, I’ve created 1000s of thought-provoking experiences for viewers using video, sculpture, painting, installation, performance, writing, and theater.
All my art has a three-line motif that I’ve used as a logo-style emblem since 1984, and it now unifies tens of thousands of artworks in all media. It has three lines because three repetitions of an element are a recognizable pattern and that implies a definite design.
My work is meant to be thought-provoking, and it requests viewer engagement. The imagery or writing is meant to direct the interpretation to a theme, but the specifics are left open. Each viewer will use their own life experiences to create their own ideas about what my artwork means or says and that will likely change on the next encounter.
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Pollinator
Medium: Upcycled materials, Steel, Polycarbonate, UV inks
Artist's Description
“The Pollinator” is a smaller version of a $40,000 permanent sculpture commission I was selected for in 2024, to decorate and draw attention to the BISH Discovery Center in Greenville, OH, after winning a national RFP sponsored by the Darke County Arts Council. That piece involved a butterfly with an 8 ft wingspan and 9 half kayaks representing blades of grasses circling it. We also planted native wildflowers around the artwork to attract local pollinators.
This piece is smaller and sits atop a single “blade” of grass but still has the same semi-transparent stained-glass effect and powerful visual impact as the larger version.
As this is a new concept, I only have one currently installed in Alamosa, CO, for their Alamosa Artscape Rotating sculpture on loan program 2024-2025, but have two more fabricated and ready for installation around the country, and because of such a high interest in this concept, I'm making 10 more this winter, as they are being selected for April, May and June installations.
Artist's Statement
Besides my insatiable desire to design, fabricate, deliver and install art to the public…
wherever I can,
whenever I can,
as much as I can,
the following poem best describes my interest in public art:
Open love letter to public art:
What I love about you, public art, is that you are meant for everyone
You require no entry fee, cover charge or special invitation.
Set free from the galleries, museums and private homes of the past.
You're out there, in the wild, unapologetic, yet vulnerable, and for everyone to see!
You must be strong, durable, able to withstand all types of weather, public scrutiny and the test of time!
You can be interactive, kinetic or stationary, and come in so many forms,
In all shapes and sizes.
You invite discussion and bring the world of visual arts to people’s everyday lives.
For all these reasons and many more, I will adore you for the rest of my life!
Hopelessly smitten
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Rosa Parks Stepping into Equality
Medium: Bronze
Artist's Description
The statue of Rosa Parks features a figure adorned in a ruffled blouse and billowing coat. The diagonal lines of the skirt sweep around the figure creating a sense of perpetual movement inviting viewers to explore the sculpture from multiple angles. By capturing this movement, I encapsulate Rosa's message of hope.
"Rosa" is an invitation for passersby to pause, reflect and engage in an important event in the history of the United States of America.
Artist's Statement
Who is an American hero and who should be commemorated in public statuary art? My process begins by trying to identify the qualities that define the heroism of ordinary people who consistently throughout their lives fulfilled a critical need in their communities or who stepped forward to defend the most basic of American principles. With strong composition and thoughtful execution, I capture my subject’s energy, enthusiasm and intellect.
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Daydreamer in Red
Medium: Steel, Aluminum
Artist's Description
Daydreamer in Red stands at 6 feet tall, appearing to be in a wistful state of being. She represents the idea of being both here and gone to a world inside her imagination. The voids in her body and dress show that she has transported herself there despite being physically present in our world. Her red dress is striking and honors the idea that a visit to a great daydream can be quite bold and fun in the midst of our busy lives.
Artist's Statement
Jessica Bradsher is a visual artist specializing in metal sculpture and painting, currently living and working in Greenville, North Carolina. Her large-scale sculptures are displayed publicly from the eastern to the midwestern regions of the United States and are also included in private collections. The themes in her work range from whimsical to contemplative. Jessica holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in both Studio Sculpture as well as Art Education. She earned her Master's of Fine Arts in 2018 from East Carolina University and currently teaches visual arts and sculpture at a private high school in the Greenville area. At present, Jessica is involved in jurying the annual DownEast Sculpture Exhibition and is fabricating her sculptural entry that has been accepted into the Underwater Museum of Art Sculpture program in the Gulf of Mexico, located in Walton County, Florida.
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Ker-Plunk
Medium: Painted steel
Artist's Description
This anthropomorphized over-sized playful looking toy tank is intended to serve as a colorful reminder to make time for something fun every day.
Artist's Statement
My sculpture is concept driven and is often highly viewer interactive. The conceptual component of my work is often derived from some memory that was stirred by the shape of some memento that I have held on to since childhood. These things bring up thoughts and experiences that challenge me and guide me through the creative process. There are elements in much of my larger works that are derived from my love of fantasy, escapism, and pop-culture imagery.
My sculpture does range in size drastically from minuscule to monumental. Some of my sculptures only require the viewer to watch as they see themselves reflected atop a difficult and imposing staircase which could represent the challenges we face in order to achieve our goals.
In whatever way my viewer chooses to engage my work, I find that it is not always necessary to me that the viewer understand my concept, but it is important to me that I provide an experience that might encourage the viewer to see and engage with art more often.
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Alien Flower
Medium: Steel
Artist's Description
Flower like sculpture inspired by a passion flower.
Artist's Statement
As an artist I do not have the answers, I feel my role is more like an activist. I do not create work with a political agenda nor have a politically motivated view. My role is to bring awareness to the society in which we live and to the subjects, objects and ideas that permeate our My work explores botanical forms, the lack of interaction between man and nature, the artificialization of nature, and the patterning that occurs in nature. These sculptures talk about organization and the chaotic nature within natural and man-made forms. I look at how items are composed and their many parts, then abstract their elements-keeping true to their inherit qualities. Some sculptures are more organic in form as if growing or flowing from group to group, mimicking ivy or spring flowers sprouting here and there. All a combination of a systematic organization of natural forms possessing a chaotic multi-layered visual effect creating a metaphor of our culture in a subordinate or subversive manner.
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Walking Man
Medium: aluminum
Artist's Description
This sculpture, with its towering presence and angular construction, exudes a sense of both strength and fluidity. The artist's use of metal as the primary material gives the piece a stark, industrial quality, which is softened by the graceful lines and dynamic posture of the figure. The figure appears to be caught mid-stride, with one arm extended forward and the other angled back, suggesting movement and purpose.
The angular and segmented design of the sculpture breaks the human form into a series of geometric shapes, which are both abstract and recognizable. This fragmentation invites viewers to consider the interplay between human anatomy and abstract form. The sharp lines and facets of the metal create a play of light and shadow that adds depth and dimension to the piece, emphasizing its three-dimensionality and the complexity of its construction.
One of the most striking aspects of this sculpture is its sense of motion. Despite being made of rigid metal, the figure seems almost weightless, as if it is striding forward with determination. This paradox of movement and stillness is a testament to the artist's skill in capturing the essence of motion within a static medium. The extended arm and elongated stride convey a sense of direction and intention, perhaps suggesting themes of progress, ambition, or exploration.
Artist's Statement
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Funky Twist
Medium: Granite, Cast Bronze, Cast Glass
Artist's Description
Funky Twist is primarily a granite sculpture that has both ancient and modern stone cutting techniques; CNC, computer aided cutting and the old drilling and splitting of stone. The cast bronze is old knowledge but the inlay of cast glass into bronze is a newer development in the history of sculpture.
Artist's Statement
The theme of my sculpture is the placement of myself in relation to nature. While working in materials such as metal, stone and glass, I am telling three-dimensional stories that capture my life experiences immersed in my perception of a collective consciousness. It is my intention that these stories, spoken through an expression of form, texture and color, will enter into human consciousness.
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Covering three (3) blocks of Lemon Street between South Florida Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue, a visit to the FLOSC sculptures on the Lemon Street Promenade is perfect for a quick weekend outing or during a lunch break.
Added in 2022, an additional sculpture can be found at the Lakeland Public Library. The library's location, just south of Lakeland's downtown core, can be a leisurely walk or short drive from the Lemon Street pieces.
Which sculpture is YOUR favorite?
Developed by the City of Lakeland's GIS Team, the link above will take you to a GPS-enabled map where you can walk through the Florida Outdoor Sculpture Competition virtually or in person!
Powered by the Otocast app, you can download and install the app to find the Florida Outdoor Sculpture Competition tour with voice recordings from the artists talking about each sculpture.
Find it on Google Play | App Store (Apple)
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