FRIENDS AND FROGS

A bronze frog sculpture resting on a large lily pad sculpture, located outdoors near a body of water.

ON THE CORNER OF THIRD AND KANSAS…

Sits a youthful bronze art piece created by Javier Rivas. The piece, which was completed in 2004, depicts 5 children playing near a pond and catching frogs. “Friends and Frogs” also has an active water component in the form of a small pond which is fed by the hose one of the children holds in their hand.

After moving back to Garden City, Kansas from Loveland, Colorado, Rivas agreed to create a sculpture highlighting the diversity in Garden City in partnership with Garden City Arts. Javier Rivas not only lived in Garden City at the time, but was a Garden City High School graduate. His talents were discovered after he created a table top piece of a buffalo as a part of his senior project. The Friends and Frogs project was a huge undertaking, especially for someone so young, and he was offered a job through the City while he worked on the sculpture. Unfortunately after the completion of the mural, Rivas moved away and has not been heard from since.

The 5 children shown catching frogs are white, black, Hispanic, Native American, and South East Asian. At the time of construction, these were the most prominent ethnicities in Garden City. Not only this, but one of the children sculpted was even modeled after Rivas’ little brother. The sculpture was first modeled out of clay, which was then used to create a cast for the bronze. The bronzes were poured in Loveland, Colorado, before being brought back out to Garden City to be mounted. The project ended up costing around $32,000 in total, and is a testament not only to the talent of young artists, but the perseverance of culture and heritage throughout Garden City.


Two children playing by a pond with a bronze statue of a boy holding a fish, surrounded by rocks and lily pads.
A young man standing next to a sculpture of a crouching girl with pigtails, wearing a shirt and shorts, and holding a bag.
Bronze statues of children playing around a small pond, located outdoors in front of a commercial building with shops and parking lot.
Group of children and adults around a pond with bronze sculptures of turtles and frogs at a park.
A man wearing a cowboy hat holding a microphone stands in front of a red SUV at a gas station, with three women standing behind him, and several parked cars and trees in the background.
Bronze sculptures of children around a small pond, some with helmets and equipment, in a park with people observing in the background.

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