New Sculptures In St. George Bring Heart To City

With the St. George Art Festival this weekend (10 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday and 10-4 on Saturday in downtown St. George), many of us have turned to the arts as a way to remind us that there's more to life than work, sleep and, well, more work.

An incredible new collection has cropped up in St. George, put together by the Art Around the Corner foundation.

Marianne Hamilton, a monthly guest on the Andy Griffin Show and former chairman of the AAC board, summarizes art in our world perfectly.

"Art helps us understand who we are, gives us an elevation in life," she said. "The basics in life are important, sure, but we also need things like art to remind us of what life is all about."

Full disclosure: I've always been partial to the musical arts. I have played several different instruments during the course of my lifetime (even got pretty good at a couple of them) and I love to sing.

As far as music goes, I enjoy almost all types (with hip hop and opera being my least favorites). I consider the 1970s and early 1980s to be the Golden Age of rock 'n' roll, but still found time in my life (thanks to my love of the saxophone) for Jazz and Big Band music (oh, and happy birthday and may you rest in peace Gerry Mulligan!).

But my art priorities have changed and I rarely listen to much music anymore :-(.

Thankfully Art Around the Corner has introduced me to the world of sculpture. Some of these pieces (in the gallery below) are incredible.

By the way, many have asked about the famous Dragon that lived downtown for the last year -- it has been leased (yes, leased) by the city of Bountiful as they attempt to kickstart their own Art Around the Corner program.

This is the new collection by Art Around the Corner: