Sculpture Walk transforms historic corner
August 2022 -- If you’ve driven by Wadsworth Boulevard and West Colfax Avenue recently, you may have noticed the southwest corner looking a little different. The highly visible parcel of land has been revitalized from a dirt-filled corner to an urban sculpture walk oasis and gathering space thanks to the support of a city grant program, local businesses and volunteers.
The West Colfax Sculpture Walk has been in progress for over two years with pauses due to COVID-19. The project came to life because of the city’s Neighborhood Participation Program. This long-running grant program encourages neighborhood organizations to apply to receive funding for projects they believe will make a difference in improving their neighborhoods. The West Colfax Community Association and the Lakewood-West Colfax Business Improvement District took the lead on the grant and had support from 40 West Arts District and residents from the Two Creeks, Eiber and Morse Park neighborhoods.
More than 40 volunteers recently came together over two weekends, often on hot, 100-degree days to transform this iconic corner of the Lakewood community. The new space consists of raised gabion planters, boulders for seating and ambient lighting. The centerpiece of the walk is a large, 28-foot-tall permanent art installation called the “Evertrees.”
“Colfax is an iconic street, and at its intersection with Wadsworth Boulevard, a very prominent and visible corner,” said Nestor Fedak, landscape architect for the City of Lakewood who created the design for the sculpture walk as well as the “Evertrees” sculpture. “This was an opportunity to turn a forgotten space into a ‘people place’ and a source of civic pride. As a landscape architect, my challenge was to meet this expectation while designing a welcoming space that would be long-lasting and easy to maintain. As an artist, I saw an opportunity to place an iconic sculpture on the corner to catch the attention of over 100,000 vehicles passing by every day and to convert this corner into a memorable public landmark.”
Volunteers hauled river rock in five-gallon buckets to fill the gabion planter walls, planted flowers, shrubs and trees, and topped the planters off with cedar mulch. There’s a total of seven planters, four sculpture pad/planters and 36 tons of cobblestone on-site. The sculpture planters were partially filled by a front-end loader, leaving about 25 tons of cobblestone that was moved and placed by hand by volunteers.
“This project will enhance one of the most traveled areas in Lakewood,” said Maddie Nichols, one of the project volunteers from the Two Creeks neighborhood. “We had very hot weather and had to move a lot of rock, but it was great to see the variety of ages and abilities of everyone who pitched in.”
The sculpture walk is a great example of how people can come together to make meaningful progress.
“By working together, we transformed an unpleasant space into something special – a real public asset, a people place with multiple art installations at one of our busiest intersections in the city,” said Bill Marino, director of the Lakewood-West Colfax BID and chairman of the 40 West Arts District. “This project is a great example of why Westword magazine calls this stretch of West Colfax part of ‘the coolest three miles in Colorado.’”
A celebration of the new space will occur in the fall. Stay tuned to the city’s social media and Lakewood.org for more information.
Watch the installation: