Two 12-foot-tall steel-and-fiberglass scissortail flycatchers now perch atop lampposts nearly 24 feet above the ground in the Lower Park of Oklahoma City’s Scissortail Park, staring down at the humans below instead of the other way around. The new installation, called People Watching, officially debuted Thursday in downtown Oklahoma City after more than a year in development.
The piece was designed by artist Matthew Mazzotta, who was chosen for the project, according to News 9. A committee reviewed more than 25 submissions before narrowing the field to three potential artists, who were then interviewed and asked to submit another piece before Mazzotta was ultimately selected. The station reports the sculptures are finished with automotive paint and a clear coat intended to help the installation last for many years.
Mazzotta described the concept as an inversion of the typical park experience, in which visitors watch birds rather than the reverse. “The birds enter the built environment and coexist with humans,” he said, according to the station’s report, adding that the piece reflects the idea that humans must live with all the other beings on the planet.
A Year in the Making, Funded Through the City’s Art Ordinance
The $244,000 project was funded through Oklahoma City’s 1% for Art Ordinance alongside private donations from the Scissortail Park Foundation, according to the Scissortail Park Facebook page. City project manager Leondre Lattimore oversaw the project’s implementation, per the same account. The ordinance, adopted by the Oklahoma City Council in 2009 and managed by the city’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs and its volunteer Arts Commission, mandates that 1 percent of the construction budget for city-owned buildings, facilities, parks and trails go toward permanent public art…