Artists from around the globe vie to be included in the popular Art on the Streets program by Downtown Ventures.

This year, the outdoor sculpture gallery that decorates the streets around downtown attracted 100 applications. Thirteen pieces made the cut: six murals and seven sculptures. Most of the artists are from the Pikes Peak region and around Colorado, but four are from around the U.S. Artists receive a $2,000 stipend for their works.

And while different themes and interests emerge each year, one in particular stood out this time: butterflies.

“Sometimes it seems there’s something in the ether — people are thinking of the same material,” said Downtown Ventures Executive Director Michelle Winchell. “It almost feels like we’re in a growth moment regionally. We had the COVID-19 years and we were in a chrysalis and now we’re emerging and transforming.”

Works will be up for the next year.

One butterfly-themed sculpture and one mural were accepted into the show. “Colorado Butterflies,” a mural by Colorado Springs artist Ian Stewart, comes with an augmented reality layer — if you hold your phone up over the mural it shows an animation.

It will be the fourth time a sculpture by Pagosa Springs artist Kasia Polkowska has been part of the exhibit. The Polish artist’s 500-pound “Lepidoptera,” a plasma-cut, painted and layered steel butterfly, was inspired by the Polish folk art of paper cutting. The piece is at North Tejon and Boulder streets.

“I love the location of the piece,” Polkowska said. “I hope it brightens up people’s day as they walk by. I love gardening and flowers. I hope it brings attention to those beneficial insects and inspires people to do a little bit of gardening and provide a habitat for the little critters.”

Her painted steel flower “Bloom II,” from last year’s exhibit, was purchased by a businessperson and now lives in front of the Conover Building at Weber Street and East Colorado Avenue.

“He realized the year was coming to an end and he enjoyed passing the sculpture and said I guess I should buy it,” Polkowska said. “That’s the perfect outlook. I wish more people felt that way.”

Other highlights of this year’s gallery include Elbert artist Patrick Shearn, who owns Poetic Kinetics, a creative studio and fabrication shop for commercial and fine art pieces. He’ll install a piece called “Chroma Cascade.” A curtain of acrylic material that casts shadows and changes in the light will dangle from the arch of the Plaza of the Rockies building. Shearn is a second-generation exhibitor — his mother also had a piece in one of the earliest Art on the Streets exhibits.

Another highlight this year is a new fellowship project for artists who have an established studio practice, but not as much public art. Pikes Peak Region Poet Laureate Ashley Cornelius interviewed a community member and turned it into a poem, which was woven into a piece by artist Jazz Holmes and dubbed “Sun Kissed.” It’s near North Tejon and Kiowa streets.

Downtown Ventures also will purchase one of the works from last year’s exhibit, “Snowy Owl,” by Loveland artist Stephen Landis, and donate it to the city’s permanent collection.

Over its 26 years, the Downtown Ventures program has displayed more than 300 pieces of art. Works have mostly been sculptures, though murals debuted as part of the project in 2019.

The program was started in the late ’90s by two business women who noticed downtown was no longer the center of the city and sales were decreasing. They wanted to make the area a more vibrant and attractive place to visit and live.

That first exhibit, featuring two-dozen sculptures along two blocks, was fully embraced by visitors and business owners, who requested more art near their storefronts. The program is supported by grants, donations, sponsorships and contracts for service.

“It also adds to the community’s sense of identity,” Winchell said. “I do our walking tours and it’s cool to hear peoples’ reactions and reflections. People from out of town are blown away by the amount of art we have. People find it meaningful. It makes them want to spend more time downtown.”

To better understand each of the new pieces, as well as other pieces in the city’s downtown public art collection, you can download the free Otocast app from the Apple Store or Google Play to hear commentary from the artists.