Mayor Lioneld Jordan welcomed a crowd on the Fayetteville Square to First Thursday, the monthly celebration of the cultural arts in Fayetteville that is held on the first Thursday of every month. Mayor Jordan stated, “Art and culture are a backbone of Fayetteville’s creative economy and do so much for our city, our citizens, our businesses, and our quality of life.” Mayor Jordan thanked the community for its support of the city’s creative economy and encouraged support of local artists of all genres.
Mayor Jordan was speaking in front of Nomkhubulwane, a sculpture of a life-sized female elephant made of recycled tires by South African artist Andries Botha. She is the matriarchal symbol of the Human Elephant Foundation, and she has been on a worldwide tour to encourage people to think about the interconnection of everyone and everything. Mayor Jordan stated, “Public art is an important part of the Fayetteville experience—it inspires us, and particularly when the art has another message within.”
For the next six weeks, Fayetteville is honored to be one of a few cities in the United States to host Nomkhubulwane. “Nomkhubulwane has been inspiring communities to think in new ways about what is trash and what is treasure,” Jordan said,” to stimulate creative thinking, to encourage us to think of the choices we make that impact other species, to think of the importance of wildlife and how wildlife and humans can effectively co-exist, and to think of all the ways that our choices (no matter how small) impact the future of our children and grandchildren.” Nomkhubulwane invites us to consider these questions and move Fayetteville Forward with conversations for solutions.
Mayor Jordan remarked that “it takes a village to bring a life size sculpture of an elephant to town, and Northwest Arkansas is a wonderful community full of people who are do-ers and who rise to a challenge.” Walmart generously provided the transportation from El Paso, Texas, to Fayetteville. Charlie Futral from BNSF Logistics team were invaluable in helping to secure the special trailer needed, as well as blankets to protect the sculpture and a crane to gently lift her into place. “The Bradberry’s helped get Nomkhubulwane displayed on the plaza, and Hope Bradberry in particular has been instrumental in securing funding to bring the sculpture to our community”, Jordan said. Jim and Nancy Blair are sponsoring the elephant’s first week in Fayetteville, Linda and Bob McBride are sponsoring week two, and Rosamond and David Banks are the sponsors for week three to bring this art to the public square. Mayor Jordan also thanked Michelle Halsell and Julie McQuade for their work with the project and then reminded the audience that Fayetteville Forward 2010 will be held on April 17 at the East Square Plaza beginning at 8 am., and he encouraged everyone to come and share their ideas about moving Fayetteville forward.
