OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi (WLOX) – New sculptures are being installed at the north and west entrances to the City of Discovery – and you can help decide exactly which sculptures they are.

Thanks to a partnership between the city and the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, visitors to Ocean Springs will soon be greeted by two sculptures.

“We have so many tourists, so many people coming to explore downtown, so this is both an artistic representation of what the city is and a way for people to know that they have arrived in this beautiful place,” explains Julius Rankin, executive director of the museum.

The Gateway Sculpture project is an opportunity for residents to collaborate with the city and make their voices heard.

“The museum will initially encourage citizen participation,” Rankin adds. “So a citizen-led design process where citizens come to public forums and meetings and talk about the history, the natural resources and the stories that make Ocean Springs unique, and that will inform the artistic design. So we don’t know exactly what they will look like yet, but we know that they will be anchored in local history, local identity, the image of the town and of course the beautiful nature that surrounds us.”

Ravin Nettles, public relations coordinator, asks: Who better to partner with than public art experts?

“We received about $200,000 from the legislature for these sculpture projects,” Nettles said. “Obviously, the GCRF is about tourism and our industry here in Ocean Springs is tourism. So this art is not only for our residents, but also for those who visit our community.”

The structures will be built at the foot of the Biloxi Bay Bridge and Fort Bayou Bridge, the route most commuters take into downtown. Installation of both sculptures will occur in 2025.

Dates for the public forums and community meetings have not yet been set, but Rankin adds that this phase of the project will begin shortly.

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