For a city chockablock with public art offerings from names like Keith Haring and Willem de Kooning, why is Des Moines still so underrated as a serious art city? One of the people leading the charge to amplify the scene is Liz Lidgett, founder of art advisory firm Adore Your Walls, which has commissioned pieces throughout the city. That mural featuring 12 different works in the Court Avenue District? That was all her. Here’s how Lidgett would spend a day seeing the city’s standout works.
John and Mary Papajohn Sculpture Park
“This sculpture park put our art scene on an international level when it opened in 2009 as part of the Des Moines Art Center. In just a few blocks you’ll see 28 different works by artists like Keith Haring, Louise Bourgeois, Mark di Suvero, and Jaume Plensa—it’s the most significant donation the city’s ever had! My office is just a few blocks away so I love to take a walk down to the park to clear my head when I have creative block.”
The Art Route
“Once you take a walk around the sculpture park follow the green dots on the sidewalk to the Art Route, a 6.5 mile walk linking 87 pieces of public artwork together throughout downtown. The path is punctuated with vivid crosswalk art of cartoon people crossing the street from a bird’s-eye-view by Peter Gibson, a mural artist from Montreal.”
“Cheers From Des Moines” Mural
“My company, Adore Your Walls, created The Des Moines Walls Project and worked with privately owned businesses and local artists to create murals around the city, like this “Cheers from Des Moines” one by local painter Ben Schuh that’s outside of Exile Brewery Co. It represents some of the things that make us special—our awesome biking trails, amazing craft breweries, and art.”
Cowles Commons
“‘Swirl’ by San Francisco light artist Jim Campbell at Cowles Commons is one of my favorite new public art pieces in Des Moines. It almost looks like a giant nest, and the LED lights around the top of the sculpture seem to follow each other around the outside of 18 oval loops, which are hooked around nine 30-foot posts. If you watch long enough, you start to realize you’re watching a video of runners that was taken from the Des Moines Marathon in 2015.”
Bubba
After you have walked all over downtown, grab a cocktail at Bubba. I go for the Porch Sipper—bourbon, cucumber, ginger, white peach basil, and Aperol—a pimento cheese tray, and of course, the setting. It’s one of my favorite projects because we were able to work with local artists like James Navarro, who did this painting of men’s shoes, which fits the restaurant’s Southern vibe.”