Where's the Fire: What Are Those Sculptures in Front of Fire Station 35?
What you see at top are three sculptures installed over the weekend in front of the new Fire Station No. 35 near the Marsh-Walnut Hill intersection, which officially opened this week and replaces its 55-year-old counterpart across the street. As I drive by this miniature Stonehenge twice a day, I needed to know what they were; looked awfully, um, aquatic, you ask me, Dr. Freud. So, after some Interwebs digging, I discovered that the artist responsible for the work -- known as "Elemental Forces" -- is Eliseo Garcia, whose work has dotted the North Texas landscape since 1994."It represents fire, water and wind energy, which the fireman face on a daily basis," he tells Unfair Park. "It's more of a conceptual piece. I wanted to do something to separate from the traditional fire station work of art -- you know, the fireman fighting a fire. I wanted something a little more thought-provoking, something they could identify with, which is why I went with something more abstract. The forces of nature are part of this; they interface with the firemen. But I wanted something respectful as well."
After the jump, more photos -- along with Garcia's description of the individual pieces.
Originally, we thought this was some kind of a seashell -- only, not so much. Says Garcia, it's a "spiral that represents energy and wind, but, conceptually, it represents the fireman's hose without being representational about it, so people wouldn't go, 'Oh, it's a fireman's hose.'"
The main piece, in the center, is meant to represent "fire and earth," says Garcia. "It's a little more abstract."
This one represents "water," Garcia says. "The element of life. I just wanted to show how there are different forms of it, so I used different movement -- cascading, undulating, spiraling. We always hear of the heroes, which, of course, is important, but never about the elements they face. And they're beautiful, but also dangerous." --Robert Wilonsky
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