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| Five bison link the two downtown sculpture parks commissioned by First National Bank. |
First National Bank Receives
Inaugural Civic Leaf
Editor’s Note: First National Bank is the inaugural recipient of Omaha by Design’s Civic Leaf. The award will be presented annually to an individual, organization or business that has worked to define and improve the metropolitan area’s civic places and public image. The bank was honored at the Oct. 17 meeting of the Omaha by Design Advisory Committee.
A wagon train filled with determined pioneer families is winding its way along a Midwestern creek bed. It happens upon a herd of grazing bison, whose sudden movement flushes a flock of geese from atop the nearby water.
This story of early Nebraska - captured in bronze by artists Blair Buswell, Edward Fraughton and Kent Ullberg – is now part of downtown Omaha’s civic identity. The work, commissioned by First National Bank, is one of the largest installments of bronze sculptures in the world.
In 2000, the bank designated two parcels of green space – one at 14th and Capitol and another at 16th and Dodge – as the future site of two sculpture parks, Spirit of Nebraska’s Wilderness and Pioneer Courage.
Today, Spirit of Nebraska’s Wilderness consists of a freestanding mature bull bison, a bison cow, a calf and 58 Canada geese. Upon completion, Pioneer Courage will consist of 29 bronze sculptures of early pioneers with their covered wagons.
Linking the two sculpture parks are five bison - four adults and one calf - all designed by Ullberg in his Loveland, Colo., studio. One of the adults, a bison cow, appears to be running through the parking structure on the northwest corner of 15th and Dodge. It was delivered last summer in three separate pieces: the head portion, which weighed 350 pounds; the midsection, which tipped the scale at 240 pounds; and the legs and tail, 25 pounds.
The sculptures exist much as they would have in real life over 100 years ago before downtown Omaha was developed, said Brenda Dooley, president, First National Buildings. Each sculpture is 1.25 times life size.
“The image of a city is reflected in its physical environment, and public art is an integral component of this environment,” said Connie Spellman, director of Omaha by Design. “Omahans are indebted to First National Bank for its leadership in this important civic arena.”
For more information about public art in Omaha, visit www.omahabydesign.org and click on the public art link at the top of the page.
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