Local sculptor creating dynamic public art in Kentucky

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Louisville-based artist Dave Caudill has created the first commissioned piece from Lexington’s Percent for Art Program, established to support the creation of new works of art accessible to the public at no charge. Caudill was chosen from a selection committee of detention center employees, public art commission members and Lexington artists.

The sculpture, ‘Birth of Hope’, is located in the Old Frankfort Pike corridor, a National Scenic Byway which serves the Lexington-Fayette Detention Center, Lexington businesses and hundreds of tourists who enjoy the world-class scenery along the road. 

The piece reflects and recognizes the human growth, dignity and value of individuals incarcerated at the detention center, as well as pay tribute to the spirit of the public servants who work at the facility, their family members, and the family members of the inmates.

Another one of Dave’s public pieces, The Bolivian Odyssey by Dave Caudill and Teresa Camacho-Hull in Achocallo, Bolivia, was featured in recently published book by CODAworx called the Economic Power of Public Art. The piece is a meditative stone labyrinth based on a fingerprint design to serve as metaphor of our unique journeys through life.

Dave has also created an environmental undersea sculpture located on a seabed near the Bahamas, and some of his larger public sculptures are found at Louisiana’s Rip Van Winkle Gardens, East Tennessee’s Horizon Center Park, the University of Kentucky’s Singletary Center for the Arts and the University of Louisville School of Music. 

A body of recent work including 18 stainless steel garden sculptures are currently on exhibit at Yew Dell Gardens in Crestwood.