Go Retire Psychiatrist

The artists are keeping us running. This morning we went to the Johnson County Administration Building to check out the statue of Dr. Lulu Merle Johnson (on the outside gorgeous Dr. Lulu Merle Johnson Plaza, which is fantastic!), another big story, and thought we’d just check on the plaques for the Iowa City Sculptors Showcase.

It’s Round 3!

All the plaques were installed and we’re not sure when that got done. Last night? Maybe it was cooler then because today with the heat index it was in the 100s.

OK, nobody messed with Walking Man on the Terry Trueblood trail—and Walking Man was the name of the sculpture by v. Skip Willits. Sena guessed right on that! He didn’t have any extra decorations on him.

The sculpture on the Iowa River Corridor Trail I thought sure would be called Plumb Bob is actually titled Point of Reference by Tim Jorgensen. That’s not really far off, because plumb bobs were used in measuring and locating points of elevation which can, in fact, be points of reference.

We got a big kick out of the Mercer Park sculpture of what looked like feet and it turns out we guessed wrong on what kind of pattern it was. It’s called Dance Diagram by Kristin Garnant. I don’t think they show you how to dance a waltz or foxtrot—I looked up the diagrams for those on the web. We tried it out and added a couple of dance moves of our own. You’re welcome! I’m sure people driving by thought we were nuts!

Congratulations to the artists and everyone involved in getting this art in the parks show out there for the 2026-2028 season!