Edmond man launches project to build sculpture park as gift to community

EDMOND — If everything goes as planned, a larger-than-life sculpture of galloping steeds will honor Edmond's past as a gateway to its newest park.

The sculpture, called "Valle del Caballo" — or, Valley of The Horse — shares a name with the land on which the park is to be built. The land was named by Mike and Hilde Johnson, whose family raised Arabian horses there for decades.

The 62-acre piece of land, bordered by Second Street on the south, Coltrane Road on the east and Vista Drive on the west, was acquired for $4.5 million in December 2021 by Hal French, a longtime Edmond oil, gas and real estate entrepreneur.

After getting the donation of an additional few acres from an adjoining landowner, French put the land into a charitable trust and plans to donate it to Edmond's Park Conservancy Trust.

Meanwhile, French has been paying money out of his own pocket and raising donations from others to develop it into The Uncommon Ground Sculpture Park, a unique project that combines recreational activities with prominent displays of public art.

So far, 42 sculptures proposed for the park have been commissioned. Some already have been completed, while others will be soon.

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"Hal has been here a long time and has done well in his business endeavors," said Randel Shadid, a former Edmond mayor who represents French on the project.

"An art collector himself, Hal knows Edmond had done a lot with public art over the years and wants to contribute to the effort in a big way," Shadid said.

Beyond sculptures, recreational opportunities to be offered

Uncommon Ground's designs call for both indoor and outdoor spaces where events can be held, including:

• The Glass House, a $5 million small-events center with adjacent parking capable of hosting up to 250 guests on the park's north side. It also will include a full-service kitchen, a visitors information center and administrative offices for park personnel.

• The Birds Nest, a fixture located on park high ground near the Glass House where visitors will be able to climb a spiral staircase to a platform 34 feet in the air to enjoy a 360-degree view of the park and all of its features.

• The Horseshoe Pavilion, an old horse barn on the park's west side. Part of the barn is being kept to house park maintenance equipment, while the eastern portion of it will be removed and replaced with roof-covered and open areas available for public events.

• The Lawn Pavilion, an outdoor events space south of the barn.

• A 70,850-square-foot lawn on the park's east side bracketed by an outdoor performance venue called the Tall Grass Stage on the park's southeast corner and Cross Timbers Camp, a restaurant space with both indoor and outdoor seating.

• A 96,460-square-foot pond on the park's south side, separated from the rest of the park by a creek that cuts through the property. Park visitors will be able to cross the creek using two pedestrian bridges to explore land and sculptures set around the pond.

• A picnic area and community garden on the park's west end, with other areas leading to the park's center set aside for fitness/endurance courses, dog parks for both large and small breeds, a water play area and a playground.

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Shadid said The Uncommon Ground Sculpture Park also will link Edmond's Spring Creek trail around Arcadia Lake with the city's trail system.

On land between the pond and Second Street, French plans to lease or sell properties to developers for high-end restaurants with outdoor seating overlooking the park and its art.

Revenues from those leases or sales will go into an endowment fund French established to help the city pay for the park's future annual maintenance needs, Shadid said.

The park is being designed by hfsd Landscape Architecture, Johnson & Associates and Rand Elliott Architects. Lingo Construction is building the project, which should be completed by late 2024.

Meanwhile, dozens of mostly anonymous donors have agreed to spend $1.8 million to acquire the sculptures, so far.

Each of those donors were able to acquire financial matches of up to $30,000 toward their piece through Edmond's Art in Public Places program administered by its Visual Arts Commission.

Over the past 22 years, the program has brought about 300 public art displays (sculptures, murals, paintings and other works) worth $6.4 million to the community.

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Uncommon Ground's sculptures lifelike, whimsical and abstract

If built as planned, park visitors would be sure to see something pleasing, no matter what type of art they fancy.

Besides Valley of The Horse sculpture Paul Moore, other artists' work procured for the park include pieces by John Coleman, Jane DeDecker, Glenna Goodacre, Veryl Goodnight, Jack Hill, Siri Hollander, Herman MacNeil, Dave McGary, Dan Ostermiller, Stanley Proctor, Paul Rhymer, Josh Tobey and many more.

Most donors contributing art to the park have asked to remain anonymous.

But other donors have put their names forward, including Shadid, Jimmie Shadid (the former mayor's mother), Rene Charqueno, Terri and Greg Dunn, the Edmond Kiwanis, Cynthia French, Richard and Debe Hauschild, (former Mayor) Dan and Pat O’Neil, Shadid & Schaus, Derel Schrock, and Joseph and (former Mayor) Elizabeth Waner,

Plus, the city plans to move a few other pieces previously contributed earlier to its public art program into the park that either had to or need to be removed from other locations, said Cinda Covel, Edmond's public art director.

Edmond has expanded its collection of public art from just more than a dozen pieces to more than 300 in 22 years, with well over half of the money spent to acquire those works provided through private donors (the remaining funds were provided through the city's 1% set aside from public infrastructure projects for public art), Covel said.

"Our program is successful because of our donors, because of our partners and because of the people who are willing to give of themselves to make things happen. We know not all of the public art is for everyone, but our goal is to make sure there is at least a piece for everyone, a piece out there they can relate to," Covel said.

One piece of art procured for the park that stands out to Covel is titled "Sanctuary," a bronze by David Pearson that was donated by Kathy Thomas, a longtime Edmond resident who devoted countless volunteer hours with her husband, Bob, to better the community through serving on various city boards and commissions and helping out in other ways.

Bob Thomas passed away in 2021 and Edmond lost Kathy Thomas just recently. While Pearson's work originally included white birds perched on a tree, Kathy asked for red birds instead of doves because cardinals were a favorite of Bob's, Covel said.

"Theirs was the kind of love story (61 years of marriage) that most people could only dream of," she said.

Another piece sure to stand out will be one titled "OUR ART," an installation of six, 6-foot-tall aluminum letters spelling those words created by Jeff Schomberg.

The letters will be highly reflective when they are sunlit, and each also will include interior LED lighting able to be seen through randomly spaced Oklahoma-shaped punch-outs at night, Schomberg said.

Plans call for installing that piece in a central location that will be visible to the restaurant patrons on the park's south side and to motorists passing by on Second, which doubles as State Highway 66.

Schomberg, who said he has been working with metal sculpting for more than 20 years, told The Oklahoman he's excited about this project because it is part of and potentially could be a centerpiece of something with the potential to become another art-based icon on Route 66, of which Second Street is part of inside Edmond.

"I think sculpture parks create a draw for people that brings them to a community to interact with them," he said.

The piece was procured for the park by Gerry and Louise Cannon. Louise Cannon is chairman of Edmond's Visual Arts Commission.

"I have been in a lot of volunteer organizations, and this has been one of my favorites because of getting to partner with so many people to bring public art to our community that's available for anyone to look at," said Cannon, who represents the institute on the commission.

The Uncommon Ground Sculpture Park turbocharges that effort, Cannon explained.

"For Hal to step up and decide to buy that property and for Randel to contribute his efforts to get all of this done ... I can't wait for the park to open so that everyone can see," Cannon said.

Shadid told The Oklahoman that French isn't interested in being interviewed about the project, explaining his client prefers to remain in the background as work to complete it continues.

The park, though, isn't the only charitable effort French has undertaken.

In 2002, he founded and opened Peppers Ranch just west of Guthrie as a place for abused children to grow into well-adjusted, responsible adults who are productive members of society.

Today, the 240-acre ranch has 16 foster homes with more planned and a learning center with an expansion underway. The ranch also is continuing its work to grow and support the services it provides to foster families and the children they care for.

As for The Uncommon Ground Sculpture Park, Shadid said he and French are using the same model the Kaiser Foundation used to develop the $460 million Gathering Place in Tulsa.

Initial cost estimates to build Uncommon Ground started out at $52 million, but have grown to $61 million because of inflation. French and Shadid so far have raised about $15 million to put toward building the park and hope to raise at least another $40 million, if not more.

Shadid also continues to visit with artists and potential donors to bring "as many sculptures as we can get" to the park.

"Everything is going to be designed around sculptures, and I hope the day comes when we have 150 out there," he said.

The park plan went before Edmond's Planning Commission on April 18, where neighbors who live just north of the property expressed concerns about ongoing traffic problems on Coltrane Road and fears the park could worsen those issues, especially north of Second Street. Commissioners voted 3 to 1 to recommend approval of its plans to the Edmond City Council.

The council is expected to consider the park's plans before the end of May, unless the issue is delayed.

"This (Uncommon Ground) is a pretty grandiose thing that's good for Edmond," Shadid said. "We are not going to be another Gathering Place, but there is nothing else like it in Oklahoma. We are going to have features that will have a wow factor that people will enjoy. It will be a destination point."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Meet the man behind a sculpture park given to Edmond's newest park