An illustration shows the sculpture called Groundswell, designed by artist Ivan Toth Depeña. It was planned for the roundabout at San Marco Avenue and May Street in St. Augustine. | City of St. Augustine
Published on April 29, 2025 at 3:42 pm
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The St. Augustine City Commission is calling off a plan to install a sculpture at the peanut-shaped intersection on San Marco Avenue and May Street. Although the city had already spent $87,500 on the project, a majority of the City Commission admitted Monday they had cold feet about the sculpture.
City commissioners and a panel of residents selected the project last year after the city issued a call for artists to create a piece of public art for the busy roundabout. The city offered artist Ivan Toth Depeña of Charlotte, North Carolina, $250,000 to realize his sculpture Groundswell before deciding to pull the plug.
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The project became a punching bag on social media, where people called the proposed abstract sculpture a waste of money and said that it would become a shelter for unhoused individuals and a distraction to drivers at an already tricky intersection.
City Commissioner Cynthia Garris led the charge in nixing the project, and she voiced some of those same concerns.
Instead of spending a quarter of a million dollars on art, Garris said she would rather see that money go toward something that actionably improved residents’ quality of life.
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“Yes, we have taken a hit from it because we have lost some revenue, but why are we going to feed into losing additional funds when we could reinvest that money in a different area?” Garris asked her fellow commissioners. “Everyday living and providing a better community for our residents is more important to me than that art display going on May Street.”
Commissioners Jim Springfield and Nancy Sikes-Kline joined Garris in wanting to terminate the city’s contract with Depeña.
“I do regret and do apologize for this misstep that we have made with the best of intentions,” Sikes-Kline said. “It’s unfortunate that it turned out this way and that people took this project this way, but it’s definitely not supported.”
Two commissioners supported keeping the sculpture, but they were outnumbered.
Vice Mayor Barbara Blonder said she was disappointed that her fellow commissioners felt the way they did. She said a hallmark of art is its ability to allow viewers to confront their discomfort about a piece.
She called the backlash to the art piece “embarrassing and disrespectful.”
Commissioner Jon DePreter agreed with Blonder. He said St. Augustine is a city that takes pride in its art, and he felt that, by canceling the planned sculpture, the city was turning its back on its duty to the arts.
DePreter and Blonder also voiced a desire to not waste the nearly $88,000 that had already been spent in designing the work.
While the City Commission floated several ideas for what to do with the roughly $160,000 that is no longer committed to the project — like sticking it in the city’s preservation fund or committing it to improving lighting on the Bridge of Lions — they did not make a concrete decision Monday night.
