Welcome to the Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation
The Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation enriches lives by advancing the best of public art by placing art in public spaces in the community through public and private collaborations, adding to the cultural record through its collections and educational programs. We invite you to discover public art through-out the Greater Des Moines area.
Featured Art this Month
Mitchell Squire
2019 | Short-Term Collection
Bus Wrap #10: Multiple Black
Kerry James Marshall
July 2018 | Long-Term Collection
Other Public Art Downtown
Tom Sachs
2007, fabricated in 2008 from an edition of 5 (5/5) | Long-Term Collection
Other Public Art Downtown
Featured Artists this Month
News + Initiatives Blog
Our blog posts are a growing knowledge base of insights, stories and information. Get inspired by and delve into a breathtaking array of public art.
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January 21, 2020Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation proudly highlights a grant award of $40,000 from... -
October 29, 2019Internationally acclaimed artist Andy Goldsworthy’s project at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art brings to...
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October 18, 2019October 17, 2019: We mourn the passing of The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings, renowned...
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June 22, 2019The Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation is emphasizes that the spaces embracing public...
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March 20, 2019Des Moines, Iowa: On 13 March 2019 the Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation...
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November 20, 2018Who were the most influential people in 2018 contemporary artworld? ArtReview’s annual ranking of the...
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November 2, 2018The Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation in partnership with The City of Pleasant...
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October 6, 2018The Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation proudly presents the world premiére of temporary, site-specific, public...
From Our Facebook Feed
Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation increasingly utilizes social media as an important method to communicate with current and prospective audiences. Facebook and other social media platforms provide diverse opportunities to share the best of public art in Greater Des Moines to people around the world.
Social media participants can witness the public art process. Followers can watch a video of installations or an interview with artists, public art professionals, and educators on particular subjects. According to the Director M. Jessica Rowe at the Public Art Foundation, people do want to see more than just having public art appear: “Rather than hoping for an audience, we want to build an audience.”
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“Miffy Fountain” (2007)
Artist: @tomsachs ❄️🐰
Photo Credit: @karlajconrad ✨
The artist Tom Sachs explores the fountain’s function as an icon and metaphor. Miffy Fountain (2007) is the first, long-term fountain which the artist has created. This public art project is integrated into Des Moines’ Western Gateway Park as a downtown oasis. #dsmpublicart #tomsachs #publicart #miffy #miffyfountain #sculpture #desmoinesphotographer #desmoines #desmoinesiowa #catchdsm #dsmusa #desmoinesdoesthings ... See MoreSee Less
Posted 1 day ago
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Thank you to Karla Conrad for a fantastic picture in the winter snow
Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation proudly highlights a grant award of $40,000 from Bravo Greater Des Moines. The 2020 Cultural Enrichment Grant is for the calendar 2020 grant period.
Our programs, events, and community activities fulfill its mission of placing the best of art in public spaces. Through public and private collaborations, the Public Art Foundation entrusts a shared notion of civic identity that brings art and spectator together. Developing stories and connections between public art and the viewer is especially important for young people, encouraging them to find their own stories and connections. #dsmpublicart ... See MoreSee Less
Public Art Foundation receives $40,000 Grant from BRAVO | Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation
Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation proudly highlights a grant award of $40,000 from Bravo Greater Des Moines. The 2020 Cultural Enrichment Grant is for the calendar 2020 grant period. Our progra...Posted 2 days ago
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"A Monumental Journey" was inspired by the talking drum of West Africa. There African drummers communicated complex messages over vast distances by simply varying the pitch of the drum and using tone to mimic patterns of speech.
With the concept of one drum-form precariously stacked upon the other, artist Kerry James Marshall has created a powerful physical and poetic expression. The large-scale sculpture embodies the notion of communication among diverse peoples and a legal system that — though not perfect — strives to be balanced. ... See MoreSee Less
Posted 4 days ago
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Do you want to build a snowman? “Back of a Snowman (Black)” Artist: Gary Hume ❄️🖤
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#dsmpublicart #garyhume #snowmen #garyhumesnowman #publicart #midwestmoment #desmoines #instadesmoines #catchdsm #dsmusa #pappajohnsculpturepark #entirelyunexpected #desmoinesphotographer #desmoinesphotography #blackandwhite ... See MoreSee Less
Posted 1 week ago
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Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation Featured Artist: @kerryjamesmarshs
Kerry James Marshall is internationally known for large-scale paintings, sculptures, and other objects that take African- American life and history as their subject matter. Marshall’s art is a complex and compelling one that synthesizes a wide range of pictorial traditions to counter stereotypical representations of black people in society and reassert the place of the black figure within the canon of Western painting.
The artist’s works are held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Art Institute of Chicago; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; among many others.
Commissioned by Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation, a major public art project called “A Monumental Journey” was dedicated on 12 July 2018 in Des Moines, Iowa. #kerryjamesmarshall #dsmpublicart #publicart #publicartmatters #catchdsm #dsmusa #art #sculpture #artoftheday #artistofinstagram #artistoftheday #desmoinesiowa @ Des Moines, Iowa ... See MoreSee Less
Posted 1 week ago
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Public art is intended to share stories of diversity, equality, inclusion and equity as they relate to the people and places of Iowa, especially those stories often untold.
We hope that these educational resources will catalyze community conversations that can result in a shared, and fuller, understanding of our common history — and common bonds.
To learn more visit: dsmpublicartfoundation.org/resources #dsmpublicart ... See MoreSee Less
Resources | Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation
Posted 3 weeks ago
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As 2019 comes to a close we would like to take a moment to thank everyone who helps sustain the Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation. Because of the generosity of our public and private partners, we can continue our vision to engage, inspire, and enrich the lives of our citizens and visitors in our central Iowa community through our public art program.
#dsmpublicart #happynewyear #thankful #art #artondart #tomsachs #mitchellsquire #mariannefairbanks #kerryjamesmarshall #artbus #miffyfountain #catchdsm #dsmusa #publicart ... See MoreSee Less
Posted 3 weeks ago
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From Times Square in New York to the Parisian gardens of Petit Palais, artists summoned international attention in 2019 through fresh public artworks. The most incisive sculptures, penetrating light installations, and eye-opening murals spurred meaningful discussions around identity, politics, climate change, and community, while, at times, inspiring awe as well.
What do you think is the best public art piece right here in central Iowa? #dsmpublicart #publicart ... See MoreSee Less
The Best Public Art of 2019
Curators share their favorite public artworks of the year, from Rael San Fratello’s “Teeter-Totter Wall” to Kehinde Wiley’s “Rumors of War.”Posted 4 weeks ago
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