Artist Scott Shubin, left, watches Tim Johnson bolt the Steam Punk Bird into place. (Fort Worth Avenue Development Group)
First came a bench. Then a bicycle. Now a bird.
Steam Punk Bird, the name is. And there it rests, on a 7-foot pole near the corner of Malone Drive and Fort Worth Avenue, conveniently beside Metro Paws Animal Hospital. In case something happens down the road.
The metal work of artists Juli Hulci-Kessinger and Scott Shubin was christened Saturday at a public gathering. Now it rests there alone, rotating at the whim of the wind.
The bird is the third piece of public art funded by the Fort Worth Avenue Development Group.
The Mobius Bench, created by Erik Glissman and Nicole Horn, graces a corner of Fort Worth Avenue and Pittman Street. Robertus Joost van der Wege’s “Magic Bike,” arouses the imagination in front of Smoke restaurant, seconds away from Steam Punk Bird.
The development group’s art selection committee chose Hulci-Kessinger and Shubin to produce an installation outside Commerce Grinding Co.’s plant on Fort Worth Avenue.
But alas, owner Joe Lodor didn’t go for the proposal and is having one of his employees produce what will stand outside his shop at 635 Fort Worth Ave. The work will include a Carlton Radial Drill donated by Lodor and probably be unveiled before year’s end. This from David Lyles, former development group president.
So the avenue will soon have four offerings of streetside art for the price of three. “We pulled a rabbit out of the hat with this,” Lyles said.
Steam Punk Bird, a creation of Juli Hulci-Kessinger and Scott Shubin (Roy Appleton)