Community Resilience is a celebration and acknowledgement of what an incredible place Louisville is. This sculpture represents our vibrant culture and pays homage to all the humans who call Louisville home. Our heritage, our strength, our resilience, our love for place and each other make our community truly unique. The original inhabitants, the miners, farmers, immigrants and people, past and present, create the layered stories of Louisville.

The Artists

• Rita Vali – Ceramic Artist; ritavali.com; IG: ritavaliceramic
• Arabella Tattershall – metal artist; arabellasmetal.com

The Team

• Trevor Cavazos - Concrete form work; Cavazos Design Build
• Assistants: Nic Carbon and Chase Picard

Symbolism of the Sculpture

The Louisville landscape that wraps around the sculpture depicts our environment and contains symbols and figures of our great community. The rolling foothills where Louisville is situated are layered in front of a vibrant sunrise. Native flora blankets the hills that also contain homage to Louisville’s mining and railroad history.

The Blue Parrot Restaurant, which hosted many social gatherings, was a community landmark for over 120 years. As a community cornerstone, the artists chose to place a blue parrot in the sculpture. Open space trails are a cherished resource for citizens’ wellbeing, hence the meandering trails throughout the sculpture.

John Breaux, the “Angel of Louisville”, who spent his days making Louisville a better place by keeping our streets and trails clean, rides the open space trails.

The artists engaged with the people of Louisville and asked them: “What makes your heart swell, your appreciation grow, your life full as a citizen of Louisville?” The collected responses, in their original handwriting, were transferred to tiles which line the interior space of the sculpture. We invite you sit in the window and take in the sentiments of our community. Using the original handwriting from the people of Louisville also represents how individual we all are. Coal miners’ brass tags speak to the individuals who worked in the mines and made their lives in Louisville.

Native plants, chokecherry and yucca in particular, were important resources to indigenous peoples.

The large oak tree is a symbol of life, growth, change, resilience and strength. The large steel nest and birds represents home and family, and the cyclical nature of life. Even in time of hardship, birds and plants are indicators of perseverance, life cycles, and new hope.

We invite viewers to sit inside this art sculpture, acknowledge our challenges, and embrace and celebrate the resilience, strength and love we all share.

This project was made possible by a generous grant from the Louisville Cultural Advisory Board.

Special thanks to Sharon Nemechek, Director of Cultural Services, for seeing this project through its entirety.

Please send inquiries through our individual websites. Enjoy!