Dorman St Rest Stop

Installed in 2015 the Dorman St Rest Stop features 5 art installments by Eric Nordgulen with help from the IUPUI Herron School of Art and Arsenal Tech students. These art installations include work from local students from Arsenal Tech which is a few blocks from here. Eric Nordgulen reached out to contacts at the high school to share the idea of getting the art students involved with the neighborhood and rest stops project. The partnership was extremely beneficial for the high school students because it gave them an opportunity to connect with college students and local professional artists, as well as see a future of art in their own lives. “I think of art as a tool that people use to better understand their relationship with their surroundings,” says Mr. Nordgulen. “We triangulate between ourselves, art and what we’re aware of. Art then gives us a chance to rethink our environment and our thoughts on issues and to understand things a little differently or a little better.”

The Dorman St Rest Stop gives people a reason to pause and connect with the waterway. It highlights the special qualities of each place and enhance the visibility, accessibility and experiences of the waterway, the neighborhoods and the city. The Rest Stop was funded by the Kresge Foundation through Reconnecting to Our Waterways (ROW) and the Central Indiana Community Foundation in 2015.

Listen to the sound of Pogue’s Run by scanning a QR code located at the base of each sculpture.

Watermark

Artitst: Eric Nordgulen

Watermark is form derived from map contours of rivers and creeks and the grid patterns of the city. A symbol for H2O sits on top emphasizing the importance of our waterways. Fresnel lenses capture an inverted image of the surroundings thereby incorporating people and the landscape into the composition of the structure.

Ebb and Flow

Artist: Ryan Johnston

Two sculptural lines of pipe are used to express the contours of the waterway. The pipes serve as abstract marks reflecting the rise and fall of the waterline and the daily volume changes to the waterflow.

Stone Lantern

Artist: Greg Hull

This sculpture has a relationship with the placement of stones in traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean gardens where stone lanterns are used to illuminate a path or point of view. One is invited to reflect upon their considerable weight and the impact that wind, water and the passage of time can impose upon a stone.

Totem

Artist: Jon Little and Arsenal Technical High School students

Bridges

Artist: Martin Beach

Bridges refers to the connections between people and communities and the landscape. Steel arcs link earth beams and feature native plant fostering the idea of care and cultivation for both the environment and the surrounding neighborhoods.