Statesboro Art Park nearly complete with 4 new sculptures

Statesboro’s art park is now complete after 10 years in the making.

City leaders have turned what used to be a railroad dumping lot into a Statesboro landmark.

“I see this as something that could be really an interesting part of the artistic community,” said Councilman Phil Boyum with the City of Statesboro.

Boyum says they wanted to promote the city while uplifting local art, with the help of the Averitt’s Center for the Arts and Georgia Southern’s fine arts department to select artwork.

“As the demographic changes, as the people change the art park will still just be kind of a blank canvas that will be able to reflect the emotions and the artistry of the people that are living there at that particular time.” said Boyum.

The park is made with recycled materials. Boyum says to help the cost of the project, they stayed away from outsourcing help.

“This is something that our department has never undertaken,” said Richard Smiley, the Streets and Parks superintendent for Statesboro Public Works.

Smiley says their guys are used to making curbs and streets straight, so they were a little nervous about the plans.

“We were asked if this is something we could tackle and we’re always looking for a challenge so we jumped on it,” said Smiley.

Between jobs for the city, crews finished concrete pouring and drainage for the park – which has a flower design visible in satellite images.

“I’m very, very proud of the way things turned out.” said Smiley.

The current installations will stay until the spring of 2026. Boyum says the plan is for the city to hold an art contest to change out the sculptures each year.