Tylur French
The holidays are quickly approaching and I heard the Overton Park Conservancy got us something. I’m impatient, and I like to snoop, so even though we’re on the skinny side of Thanksgiving, I made my way over to the park to have a look around. And I found it! Right there between the playground and the dog park, standing just over 21 feet tall and weighing 10,000 lbs., is a steel sculpture from Youngblood Studio. Some assembly is required, and Tylur French and his team were busy with the detail work it takes to make a portal this size stand upright in its 60,000-lb. concrete footings.
This soaring work of art will be a gateway to the Old Forest, and French called upon an artistic movement from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for inspiration. From the Overton Park website: “During the time [Overton Park designer] George Kessler was educating the public on the importance of preserving natural areas and designing urban parks, Art Nouveau was capturing the beauty of nature and awakening the public’s senses to the natural world. Born of the same societal revolution, Overton Park was founded in 1901, while Art Nouveau was in its height as an artistic movement. The Art Nouveau style preserves the historical context under which the park was founded and physically represents the undercurrent of thought that gave birth to the park in the first place . . . The subtle beauty of this design does not overwhelm the park visitors, nor does it diminish the powerful, quiet character of the Old Growth Forest. Visitors will feel the grandeur of the forest as they walk through the entrance. They will respect the beauty they are about to enter, they will be inspired to travel within.”
Overton Park_Design
Rendering of completed gateway to the Old Forest
The design also evokes the idea of a seed and the park is certainly seeing a rebirth these days. And, if you want more, French talks about Frank Lloyd Wright and his trick of making entryways smaller than normal, with the interior opening up in dramatic fashion. Certainly that’s what we have with the Old Forest — there is no more dramatic theatre in the city.
Some of Wright’s optical illusion could be seen as French walked me from the west side of his work to the east to show me how, with the changing perspectives, the spaces between the sections are closed (west-side viewing) or open (east-side viewing). Upon completion just before Christmas, the sculpture will be different shades of green with a disappearing and reappearing filigree flowing continuously over all three sections. There will be park maps, a bicycle rack with spaces for 10 bikes, and a public pump and repair station like those seen on the Shelby Farms Park Greenline.
French designed the Bike Arch on the east side of Overton Park at East Parkway, the grand entrance from the Hampline. A gateway sculpture to the south, abutting the golf course clubhouse property was designed and built by Yvonne Bobo; and from the East Parkway playground and iconic gazebo into the Old Forest is a sculpture by Ben Butler. The designer of a forthcoming gate at Poplar Ave. and Cooper St. has not yet been chosen.
Work in progress
As Memphis becomes increasingly more biker and pedestrian friendly, and the idea of pedestrian rights-of-way being the rule more than the exception, it will be such gifts from the city, conservancies, and artists in the landscape — the sculptures, the murals, the creative wayfinding — that excite those who pass.
To track the work, and other projects around the city, follow youngbloodstudio on Instagram.
