The Arts Corridor

Art Spaces was invited by the City to place outdoor public sculpture along the Terre Haute Arts Corridor. There are four available sidewalk bumpout areas created for this purpose and a fifth sculpture will be located on Vigo County Public Library property at 7th and Poplar. This piece, the Gateway to the Arts Corridor, will signal the beginning of the Arts Corridor. Sally Rogers of Penland, North Carolina, was recently selected as the artist for this project which will be completed by early 2008.
(Tribune Star article)

The sculptures to be placed on the designated sidewalk bumpout areas on 7th Street between Poplar and Wabash Ave. include one by Bob Emser of Eureka, Illinois, which will be installed in front of the Sheldon Swope Art Museum by the end of November 2007. Art Spaces recently received a Community Arts Grant from the City which will go toward a sculpture for a bumpout on the East side of the street to be commissioned in 2008.

Max Ehrmann Project

Art Spaces, Inc. is currently working with the Terre Haute Cultural Trail Coalition (including Art Spaces, Downtown Terre Haute, Inc., Vigo County Historical Society, City of Terre Haute, Indiana State University, Arts Illiana, Terre Haute Tribune-Star and others) to commemorate the poet,Max Ehrmann. Born in Terre Haute in 1872 he is remembered for sitting at the crossroads of 7th Street and Wabash Avenue watching people pass by. His renowned poem, Desiderata, was penned in Terre Haute and is known and cherished throughout the world.

Bill Wolfe, an artist and resident of West Terre Haute, has been commissioned to create a bronze lifesize sculpture of Ehrmann sitting on a bench with pen and paper in hand. The sculpture will be installed in its rightful place along the Arts Corridor on the corner of 7th and Wabash in late 2008. Excerpts of Ehrmann’s poems will be embedded into the sidewalk leading up the sculpture along with the full length poem of Desiderata.

For further information or to a make a donation toward this project please contact Art Spaces, Inc.

For more information on Max Ehrmann and the plans for this project:
Tribune Star Articles:
Directing Energy to a Worthy Cause Could Produce Something Wonderful by Mark Bennett
Finding Ispiration in Terre Haute: Discovering the City with Max Ehrmann's "Desiderata" by Cormac O'Duffy

The Cultural Trail Coalition will continue to work to commemorate Terre Haute’s cultural figures that have made many contributions to art, literature, music and politics worldwide.

Future Projects

Art Spaces is currently working with the Clark Landsbaum Holly Arboretum to raise funds for a sculpture to be located at the Arboretum.   With the Heritage Trail extension scheduled to pass through there within several years, the Arboretum is likely to be a destination site for the many features it will offer, including its unique and thriving collection of holly trees, the trail and public art.