Exciting Events and Activities in St. Louis
Laumeier's Lost Sculptures Came Back This Fall, Cast In Bronze And Steel
Exciting Events and Activities in St. Louis
For half a century, Laumeier Sculpture Park has let some of its best-known works fall apart on purpose. Its 50th-anniversary series, Begin Again, invited artists to return to pieces that were decommissioned or no longer exist. With Alison Saar's Honey Chile' debuting on October 3, all three outdoor commissions are now on the grounds at 12580 Rott Road. Two of the three came back in metal. Works first made from cedar and wood are now cast in bronze and stainless steel, and the park has named the bronze a permanent addition. The Sunset Hills trail you walk this fall holds sturdier work than it did a year ago.
Admission is still free. The grounds open daily at 7 a.m. and close 30 minutes after sunset, except when special events close the park.
The new pieces are easier to read once you know why the originals disappeared.
In 1997, Saar made Leelinau for the park. It was a wooden figure placed high in a tree, and she meant it to decay slowly over time. Storm damage in 2015 ended that plan early, and the park respectfully deaccessioned the sculpture.
Ursula von Rydingsvard's 1988–89 commission had a longer life. It was 45 carved red cedar chambers, set in a grid, and it was a public favorite for years. Laumeier says material decomposition and limited conservation resources eventually forced the park to take it off view for good. The park says she chose materials with a limited shelf life knowingly, and that she embraced beauty in gradual decay.
Curator Dana Turkovic described the series as a direct answer to that history.
"Begin Again explores the ephemerality of sculpture, despite its traditional associations with permanence and heavy physical presence."
She said going back through 50 years of temporary work "led to a desire to bring some of these projects back to life."
Each artist could make a reinterpretation, a rebuild, or a new work inspired by the original. Each one took a different route, and the route decided how long the new work will last.
Ursula von Rydingsvard, Untitled, 1989, cast 2026. The 45 chambers are now one, cast in bronze, in a quiet clearing on the Art Hike Trail. It went on view August 29 and will join the permanent collection. Laumeier writes that "the choice of bronze communicates a density and intended permanence," with a patina colored to carry the detail of her original wood carving.
*Alison Saar, Honey Chile', 2026.* This is a new work, not a rebuild. The figure is an eight-foot feral child with a honeybee hive tucked into one of the branches growing from her hair. The park says the honey she carries stands for healing, nourishment and resilience. She is cast in stainless steel with a dark green and brown patina. She stands on a large stone above the trail and looks toward the creek. She is also the last commission in the series.
Juan William Chávez and Kiersten Torrez, Wak'a Garden. This one stays temporary. It sits on the South Lawn and opened April 18, 2026. On the park's Begin Again page, Chávez's 2012 work Untitled (Sacred Real Estate) is pictured next to Leelinau and the 1989 cedar Untitled. The posts of that earlier sculpture are still buried in the ground as its footprint. The new piece is shaped like an amphitheater and holds ceramic hive forms. It is scheduled to stay up until spring 2029. Laumeier's own pages give two different end dates in April of that year.
So the series lands in three places at once. Von Rydingsvard's cedar grid is now one bronze chamber that the park calls permanent. Saar's figure that was meant to decay is replaced by steel. Chávez's garden has a set closing date, while the buried posts of his 2012 work stay in place.
Bees connect the two newest pieces. Saar's figure carries a living-hive motif in her hair, and the Chávez and Torrez garden is built around hive forms. The commissions sit in different parts of the park, the Art Hike Trail and the South Lawn, so a single fall walk takes you past both.
The outdoor works will last for years. The indoor show ends this year. Begin Again: 50 Years and Counting runs in the Aronson Fine Arts Center through December 13, 2026. It covers five decades of commissions and revisits works that have come and gone. It's the one place in the park that shows Leelinau and the cedar grid as they were, which makes it the obvious companion to the trail.
Gallery hours change partway through the fall.
| Period | Thursday–Friday | Saturday–Sunday |
|---|---|---|
| Through November 1, 2026 | 12–6 p.m. | 10 a.m.–4 p.m. |
| November 5, 2026–March 14, 2027 | 11 a.m.–4 p.m. | 10 a.m.–4 p.m. |
Those posted schedules leave a short gap between November 1 and November 5. After that, weekday afternoon visits end two hours earlier. That leaves about six weeks of the shorter schedule before the exhibition closes.
The anniversary looked forward as well. Laumeier set up a 2051 community time capsule for its 75th anniversary, filled with community memories, messages and surprises meant to be opened that year. The sealing and burial ceremony was scheduled for October 3 on the South Lawn, for 25 years underground. That puts it on the same lawn as Wak'a Garden, so the South Lawn now holds a garden scheduled to close in 2029 and a capsule meant to stay buried until 2051.
Work on the land itself is also planned. A new volunteer-led conservation partnership will restore Laumeier's native oak woodland and take on invasive honeysuckle. The park says activities will start in the coming months. The bronze and steel commissions sit along the Art Hike Trail, so this is the woodland they'll stand in for years to come.
After Dark is two days after the gallery's shorter hours begin. If you want to see the indoor exhibition with the after-hours crowd, check the event details before you go.
The Sunset Hills and Crestwood calendar fills the rest of October. Crestwood's Blues & Brews at Whitecliff Quarry, 9245 Whitecliff Park Lane, runs October 10 from 2 to 5 p.m. with the Anita Rosamond Band and food trucks. Sunset Hills hosts pumpkin carving at 3915 S. Lindbergh Blvd. on October 17 from 9 a.m. to noon. The two cities' joint SunCrest Fest returns to Kitun Park, 12343 Eddie and Park Road, on October 24, with a parade at 10:15 a.m.
The bronze Untitled and the steel Honey Chile' are on the trail now, free to visit any day from 7 a.m. until 30 minutes after sunset.
We pay attention to how a material holds up and how a place is cared for over decades. That's the same eye we bring to homes in Sunset Hills and Crestwood. If you're thinking about how your own home will be seen and valued, Svoboda Shell would be glad to walk it with you. Start your home journey with Svoboda Shell.