LocationEmanuel Cleaver II Blvd. at Cleveland Ave. |
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Artist/Designer: Richard Hunt
Description
A 5,000 lb. metallic free form sculpture sits on a pedestal in the middle of a retaining pool – elliptical in shape with raised platforms that support the sculpture. Water pours from the base of the platform and there are six clusters of water jets in the interior of the basin.
Inscription
Richard, Hunt, Sculptor. This work was inspired by civic and community leader Bruce R. Watkins, March 20, 1924-September 13, 1980. Dedicated September 13, 1981.
In 1977, City Councilman Bruce R. Watkins organized the Spirit of Freedom Foundation to develop a monument to the contributions of the black people in Kansas City. Richard Hunt, a black Chicago sculptor, presented an abstract model to reflect the symbolic nature of the subject. He also noted that it was in keeping with the improvisational aspects of Kansas City jazz. The fountain was dedicated in 1981 exactly one year after Watkins’ death.
Nearly 200 hundred years after the area’s first fur trading post was settled on the bluffs of the Missouri River, Kansas City is preparing to honor the French pioneer Francois Chouteau who established it, and the Native Americans with whom he traded. Francois Chouteau...
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