Goddess sculpture’s fate up in the air

Fans of a sculpture known locally as the Basin Park goddess, a 10-ft.-tall mosaic statue of a smiling woman holding a heart in her hands, have been dismayed to see the sculpture covered up by black plastic. The owner of the property where the statue is located said a decision hasn’t yet been made about what she will do with the sculpture, nor with the Humpty Dumpty wooden sculpture that sits high on the property overlooking Spring St.

“We haven’t made any decision with anything,” owner Beverly Foust said. “We just have a lot of construction. I don’t know what I’m doing up there. I have all kinds of things going on. We will play it by ear as it happens.”

Asked about rumors that the goddess sculpture would be taken down, Foust said, “I’m not saying that won’t happen.”

Both pieces of artwork on private property just south of Basin Park are popular with locals and tourists. Tourists almost hourly can be seen taking photos of Humpty Dumpty and – prior to it being covered up – the goddess sculpture. Foust said the wall holding up Humpty Dumpty is falling down because it was not designed by a structural engineer. She said Humpty Dumpty is rotting from the top down, and she hasn’t decided whether it will be rebuilt and placed back in its original location.

Resident Nancy Brooks said one reason people come to Eureka is to find these little odd treasures here and there. Brooks said the goddess sculpture is a delight to people who discover her.

“I hope that a new home can be found for her,” Brooks said.

Mayor Butch Berry said the goddess statue was offered to the city.

“But you can’t get a crane in there to move it,” Berry said. “It is private property, a private sculpture. It is out of the city’s hands.”

Ironwork for the goddess statue was done by Lee Roberts. The mosaic covering was created by Bruce Anderson, who named the piece, “Aza, Beloved One Created of the Stars.”

Anderson said he had been in discussion with Foust for several months about the sculpture that has been overlooking Basin Park for about seven years.

“She told me that every time she looked up at the sculpture, she felt like she was disobeying God,” Anderson said. “She asked me if I could alter it and change it into an angel. I said it is sort of already an angel. Then she said, ‘What I’d really like would be if you could turn it into Jesus.’ She was brought up in a real strict, fundamentalist Christian environment. She looks at the sculpture as an idol, and thinks people are worshipping it. Several months ago, she was going to take a sledge hammer to it, but she didn’t do that.”

Anderson said Foust’s fiancé told Anderson they really want the statue off the property, and asked about moving it.

“It wasn’t really made to be moved,” Anderson said. “It would be extremely difficult or impossible to move. I built it on site. It might just fall apart if you try to move it. Maybe a month ago I was talking to people who might help me to move it when I got a text from the owner that she had decided against moving the sculpture. She said she was going to sell the house and the sculpture is safe for now.”

Anderson said when he worked on the statue onsite, visitors from all over the world stopped to talk to him. Everyone had their own idea about what she represented.

“I tried not to make it any one religious symbol,” he said. “It is not Mary, but people thought it was Mary. People thought it was a mermaid. They thought it was a Hindu goddess. Everyone took something different from it.”

Anderson has a Facebook page for the sculpture, Aza of Eureka Springs.

Aza was originally commissioned by Dan and Belinda Harriman, former owners of the property where a private residence is located next to the Turpentine Creek information center. Belinda Harriman said she asked the artist to make a sculpture that would have the message: “Love people. Be kind to them.” Anderson told her he made the face from the faces of three of the kindest people he had ever known. The mouth represented one person, the nose another and the eyes a third person.

“I wanted a thing of beauty for people to admire who visit Basin Park,” Harriman said. “I asked the artist to make her tall, give her a crown, give her a heart and have her holding a staff with an orb on top. He decided to do mosaics on it, which reflect the light. It took him about a year and a half to finish her.”

Harriman said she feels everything of beauty is part of God’s work.

“It just made me sad to see her covered in plastic,” Harriman said. “I thought it was an asset to Eureka Springs and not something that needed to be covered up.”

She earlier commissioned the Humpty Dumpty statue because she wanted a whimsical piece of art to share with Eureka. She wasn’t crazy about using wood because of maintenance issues. The piece weighs 1,480 pounds, and has been featured in national magazines and on many tourism websites.

“It sat for two days before a crane could put it up,” Harriman said. “He would be very hard to get out. Everyone seemed to love it. It was a gift to Eureka Springs. Pictures of it have been all over.”

Dan Harriman said Aza was an expression of love and kindness meant to spread good will to everyone in Basin Park.

“We were awfully proud of it,” he said. “It was beautiful and something the whole community enjoyed.”

Earlier there had been problems with people stepping onto the private property to touch the statue or have their picture taken with it. But a five-ft.-tall iron fence now protects the statue, which has a No Trespassing sign in front of it. It has been in place for about seven years.

Resident Margo Pirkle said the goddess was beautifully done.

“It was such a blessing for everyone in the park who came to drummings and other events,” Pirkle said. “We looked up and there was a goddess. I thought she brought joy to the whole park area. It really brightened my day when I was in the park, looked up, and there she was. When my sister visited, I took her up to see it. It is just remarkable to have this beautiful sculpture representing the goddess of love and light, compassion, and joy. She is so glorious right there. It just broke my heart to see her covered up. It is heavy on my heart.”