The Bernice Garden, a private urban garden intended for public use located on the corner of Daisy Gatson Bates Ave. and South Main St. in downtown Little Rock, is seeking proposals from artists/teams to design and construct outdoor sculptures to be installed and exhibited for a year at the garden.

The deadline for The Bernice Garden Sculpture Project call for proposals is 5 p.m. on Wed., March 31, 2010 and should be sent to 1716 North Spruce, Little Rock, AR 72207. The call for proposals is open to all artists or artists’ teams residing in Arkansas, and artists or artists’ teams may specialize in any or multiple disciplines and media. Any artists or artists’ teams who have participated in placing work at The Bernice Garden should wait four years before submitting a new proposal.

Five sculptures will be selected, and the stipend per artwork per artist or artists’ team is $2,800 with an additional design fee of $200 for the finalists’ development of a model for the proposal. Each artist or artists’ team will only be considered for one artwork. The budget must include all design fees, materials, construction, installation, removal, maintenance and liability insurance. The artist or artists’ teams retain ownership of the artwork.

The Bernice Garden Sculpture Project selection committee is seeking a range of works representing or reflecting the spirit, nature and history of Arkansas.  Artworks may also celebrate the sense of community and neighborly interaction or be playful and whimsical.  Materials used can be traditional or alternative. Artworks must be able to stand up to the elements, interaction and potential vandalism and should be maintenance free. Artists or artists’ teams are responsible for all construction, delivery, installation, maintenance and removal of artwork as well as liability insurance. Artists or artists’ teams will retain ownership of the artwork.

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The Bernice Garden grows at 14th and Main.
Published 8/14/2008
If you’ve driven down South Main Street lately and glanced longingly, perhaps, at the former site of the Captain D’s at the corner of Daisy Bates (14th Street) and Main, you’ve seen a sculpture garden.

The concrete pad that supported the fast fish joint, which burned down several years ago, has been spruced up with a fresh coat of white concrete. On its north side is a long area surfaced in gravel.

The graveled and concrete areas are surrounded by landscaping — crepe myrtles, water oaks, bright zinnias, bamboo, tall grasses, rosemary, all to be watered by water collected in a cistern — and long benches on the north and south.

A year from now, six sculptures will have been installed at this once blighted corner, thanks to the vision of the lot’s owner, Anita Davis, and a Main Street grant. The Bernice Garden (named for her grandmother) is a “public park on private land,” Davis explained, describing the effort as a “feminine approach to downtown revitalization.” She hopes the neighborhood will be inspired by the garden to gather in community, enjoy art and learn about sustainable landscaping.

To date, Davis, who owns the two buildings facing Main on the south half of the block, has footed the bill for the entire project. She declined to say what her investment is, but says the payoff will be in seeing it used.

Davis, who was born “in the 1940s” and grew up in Murfreesboro, is known to the art community as both an artist herself — she assembles found objects to create what she called “tongue-in-cheek” works — and as a collector of vintage handbags (and their contents). The Historic Arkansas Museum exhibited a portion of her collection in 2006; “The Purse and the Person” is now on exhibit at the Midway Village history museum outside Chicago.

SOMA — which stands for Southside Main Street Project — won a $20,000 grant from the Main Street Arkansas organization to pay $3,000 to six artists who successfully apply to install art in the Bernice Garden (the remainder of the grant will go for publicity). Davis said she hopes the call for artists will be issued soon; a committee composed of representatives from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the Arkansas Arts Council, SOMA and Davis will make the selections. The artists will be able to reclaim the work after a year, when new pieces could go up.

Davis hopes the ACAC artists cooperative, located in the historic structure just south of the sculpture garden (and coincidentally named the Bernice Building), will put the park to good use, as could Audubon Arkansas, which has offices on the second floor of the Lincoln Building next door. She’d also like to see some kind of small farmer’s market on the site. She said persons who’d like to use the area should call her building manager, Steve Hendrich, at 664-0800.

bernice garden

The Bernice Garden is privately owned by Anita Davis, but intended for public use and is located at the south-east corner of South Main Street and Daisy Bates Avenue. The garden was created to celebrate the community and will host community events as well as the sculpture exhibit in an effort to foster community interaction and a sense of pride in the neighborhood. The sculpture exhibit is sponsored by Main Street Arkansas and is facilitated by SoMa.
The 50’ x 57’ garden consists of landscaped areas with a crushed granite foundation for the artworks. Next to the sculpture garden is a concrete patio, benches and approximately 20 parking spaces. The sculpture exhibition is part of a multi staged development plan of the garden.
The selection committee is seeking a range of works representing or reflecting the spirit, nature and history of Arkansas. Artworks may also celebrate the sense of community and neighborly interaction or be playful and whimsical. Materials used can be traditional or alternative. Artworks must be able to stand up to the elements, interaction and potential vandalism and should be maintenance free. Artist/teams are responsible for all construction, delivery, installation, maintenance and removal of artwork as well as liability insurance. Artist/teams will retain ownership of the artwork.