Old Town Lewisville soon will add a new resident – an 18-foot-high bronze sculpture that will be placed on the grounds of Lewisville City Hall, 151 W. Church Street. Installation of the statue, formerly housed in the lobby of the Sheraton Dallas Hotel, will be scheduled for later this summer.
Mayor Dean Ueckert said having a public art display brings an added dimension to Lewisville’s downtown revitalization project.
“Most of the great downtowns in the United States, and all over the world really, have some sort of public art,” Ueckert said. “We’re very excited to be able to bring this sculpture to Lewisville and encourage people to come down to check it out and see what’s new in Old Town.”
The statue, by noted American sculptor Herb Mignery, depicts a cowboy being thrown from a rearing horse. It is called “Slicker Shy” and illustrates experiences from the artists’ childhood on a ranch when horses would spook at the sound of a rider’s wind-whipped rain slicker. The sculpture is nearly 10 feet across at the base and weighs 5,500 pounds.
Mignery is known for elegant and classically rendered pieces that chronicle the lives of men and women as they wrestled the land and the elements in the early American West. Mignery grew up on a cattle ranch in Nebraska but, rather than follow his family’s 110-year tradition of ranching, he turned his childhood interest in drawing into a successful career in commercial art before devoting himself full time to fine art. He is an award-winning member of the Cowboy Artists of America and the National Sculpture Society of America.
“One of my goals in life, as a chronicler, is to tell the story of people like those I grew up with,” Mignery said of his Western-themed art. “I see myself as a vehicle to let their stories be known. I also want to show the world that the cowboy is not dead. There are cowboys today, just like there were cowboys yesterday.”
“Slicker Shy,” the piece coming to Lewisville, was commissioners by the Adam’s Mark Hotel in 1998 and previously was housed in the main lobby of the downtown Dallas hotel. The hotel was reflagged in 2008 as a Sheraton and underwent a $90 million renovation. As part of the renovation, the statue was removed and the hotel’s owners are placing it in Lewisville on consignment until a buyer is found. The statue is valued at $450,000.
“For many of our returning guests, we know a part of them will miss the massive ‘Slicker Shy’ figure that has greeted them for the past decade,” said Ray Hammer, general manager of the Sheraton Dallas Hotel. “However, we are confident that they will be very pleased with what they see when they come through the doors of our newly renovated lobby. And, we are happy that our hotel’s transformation has provided an opportunity for the City of Lewisville to offer its residents a new reason to visit Old Town.”
This is the first major piece of public art to be put on display in Lewisville. The new Lewisville Center for the Creative Arts currently is under construction about half a block from the statue site and is expected to open at the end of this year. Plans also are being developed for a new park plaza across the street from the statue site.
Installation of Slicker Shy at City Hall was unanimously approved by City Council at its July 19 meeting after a request from the Old Town Business Association (OTBA) that offered to secure donations to build a base for the statue.
JC Commercial of Lewisville, contractor for the arts center, has agreed to donate materials for the base. SculptureWorks, the company overseeing the consignment agreement, will provide installation and cleaning services.
OTBA president Amanda Ferguson said businesses in the historic district are excited to see public art being brought to the area.
“The Old Town Business Association is pleased to have played a part in arranging for Slicker Shy to be displayed in historic Old Town Lewisville,” Ferguson said. “The mission of OTBA is to promote the Old Town area, and this display will certainly add a quality aspect to it.”
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