Since Carmel mounted its first public art display at a roundabout in 2011, public debate has followed.
Some residents have praised the city and Mayor Jim Brainard for injecting culture into the wealthy northern suburb, separating it from its Hamilton County neighboring cities.
Others have criticized some of the abstract pieces as baffling. Some question whether the city should be spending taxpayer dollars on art.
After the latest roundabout art installment at Rangeline Road and Executive Drive was widely criticized on social media, a City Council committee voted to prohibit any of $60 million in a road fund allocation from being spent on roundabout art. The councilors said they wanted to take a timeout on the projects because of the controversy they have generated.
The funds for any sculptures in that group of roundabouts would have to come from the city’s arts fund, which is 1% of its general fund budget.
The city now has 12 sculptures at roundabouts at a total cost of $2,402,366. The most expensive piece was $428,161 and the cheapest was $17,000.
They are eclectic mix of classical, abstract and modern art forms.
Six artists produced the pieces; three of the artists are from Indiana and three from elsewhere in the United States.
While some residents have complained that the art in roundabouts is a potentially dangerous distraction for drivers, the mayor has said their visibility alerts drivers that it is time to slow down.
The roundabouts with art represent less than 10 of the city’s inventory of 134 roundabouts. About 100 other traffic circles are landscaped.
The following is a list of the art at roundabouts in chronological order.
Cyclo
- Artist: Brad Howe
- Location: 136th Street and Rangeline Road
- Year approved: 2011
- Cost: $80,000
The city’s first roundabout sculpture and one of three by California artist Brad Howe, of California. It is intended as a gateway to the Arts & Design District. The colorful large steel rings woven around and next to curving posts could be interpreted as an abstract representation of a person swinging hoola hoops on their waist or a dress swirling around a twisting body. In an interview at the time, Howe said it was inspired by modern dancers, particularly Martha Graham.
Home Run
- Artist: Jorge Blanco
- Location: 126th Street and Hazel Dell Parkway
- Year: 2017
- Cost: $165,833
One of a trilogy of sports themed sculptures by Florida artist Jorge Blanco on Hazel Dell Parkway that acknowledge youth sports at nearby athletic fields. The figures are made of bright powder coated aluminum and appear to be oversized, cartoonish building blocks. “Home Run” displays a swinging batter, a catcher, and a leaning umpire lined in a row at home plate
Kick
- Artist: Jorge Blanco
- Location: Main Street and Hazel Dell Parkway
- Year: 2017
- Cost: $165,833
The bright red and yellow sculpture features two opposing soccer players trying to kick a soccer ball in mid
flight. Blanco has said the purpose of his colorful, outsized sculptures, is “to produce happiness.”
On Wheels
- Artist: Jorge Blanco
- Location: 116th Street and Hazel Dell Parkway
- Year: 2017
- Cost: $165,833
“On Wheels” shows four bicyclists atop tall posts racing north. Blanco’s colorful figures can appear to be both abstract and mechanical.
Beacon Bloom
- Artist: Arlon Bayliss
- Location: 96th Street and Westfield Boulevard
- Year: 2017
- Cost: $310,000
One of three artworks by Anderson-based sculptor and teacher Arlon Bayliss, who started the glass program at Anderson University in 1990.
Beacon Bloom is three steel flowers with long stems, facing three directions. It is the southern gateway, or beacon, to the city. The highest flower is 30 feet tall. Each flower contains 16 florets with glass lenses and LED lights that bathe it at night with changing colored light.
Wire Deer Family
- Artist: William Arnold
- Location: 96th Street and Ditch Road
- Year: 2017
- Cost: $17,000
Arnold is a wildlife sculptor from Indiana who lives in Shelbyville. His “American Bison” wire sculpture has been at White River State Park since 1993. His roundabout sculpture depicts two grazing life-sized wire deer.
Greyhounds.
- Artist: Bo-Mar Industries
- Location: Main Street and Keystone Parkway
- Year: 2017
- Cost: $100,000
Bo-Mar is an Indianapolis metal fabricating company. The exhibit depicts 10, six-foot-long stainless streel greyhounds racing on two curved walls at the double roundabout. The greyhounds pay homage to the team mascot at nearby Carmel High School. Blue back-lighting illuminates the dogs at night.
Stone Paper Scissors.
- Artist: Kevin Box
- Location: 126th Street and Gray Road
- Year: 2017
- Cost: $115,000
A large rock sits on the ground supporting a sheet of paper made of steel that is topped by a large pair of scissors. The roundabout is near Mohawk Trails Elementary and Clay Middle School. Box said he hoped the exhibit encouraged students to think of the children’s game “rock paper scissors” as a way to peacefully resolve conflict.
Artist Kevin Box is based in New Mexico and uses recyclable materials.
Reckon
- Artist: Brad Howe
- Location: Elm Street and Rangeline Road
- Year: 2018
- Cost: $185,000
Howe’s second commission invites the viewer to think and arrive at a conclusion or assumption about the artwork’s meaning. The five colorful ovals, positioned possibly as petals, are intended to evoke the sun or a flower or radiant energy.
Grace, Love and Joy
- Artist: Arlon Bayliss
- Location: Old Meridian Street and Pennsylvania Avenue
- Year: 2019
- Cost: $360,000
Bayliss’ second sculpture is 42-foot high steel and aluminum depiction of three pink roses with gold and silver stems wrapped in a ribbon that illuminates at night. Bayliss said three roses means, “I love you” and pink roses stand for “happiness, grace, gratitude and joy.” If one has good eyesight, a bumblebee can be detected in the petals.
Homage to Hoagy
- Artist: Arlon Bayliss
- Location: 3rd Avenue and City Center Drive
- Year: 2020
- Cost: $428,167
Bayliss’ third commission is next to the Palladium Center for the Performing Arts and is an ode to Tin Pan Alley songwriter Hoagy Carmichael, an Indiana University graduate who spent several years in Bloomington and Indianapolis. Made of steel on a base of Indiana limestone, the 40-foot-tall sculpture depicts stars, moons and musical notes bursting out of an antique gramophone horn. The piece was inspired by Carmichael’s “Stardust” and is Illuminated at night by multicolored LED lights.
Morning Sun
- Artist: Brad Howe
- Location: Executive Drive and Rangeline Road
- Year: 2020
- Cost: $209,200
Howe’s abstract third sculpture inspired mockery on social media but the artist said he was not offended and welcomed the debate. The 16-foot tall stainless-steel structure depicts a white oval with black slashes painted across on a sprocket, atop red and white block-style posts. Motorists had a difficult time understanding it and some said it resembled the common depiction of a COVID-19 cell. Howe said it probably most resembles a sunflower but he meant it mostly as a “curious, uplifting riddle.”
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