Grand Rapids Sculptures: Downtown West

“Grand Rapids showcases sculptures and artwork throughout the city,” writes USA Today in naming Grand Rapids one of the 10 Best Cities Where You Can See Amazing Art. Downtown Grand Rapids is home to dozens of sculptures and murals you can see every day of the year – and hundreds more during the annual fall ArtPrize competition. 

There are so many downtown sculptures that we’ve created two separate walking tours for you to view them. This article covers sculptures wet of downtown’s Grand River and a second article focuses on sculptures east of the river.

Start your tour of Downtown Grand Rapids-West sculptures on the east side of the Grand River: at the Blue Bridge, the iconic pedestrian walkway between the JW Marriott Hotel and Plaza Towers. Cross the Blue Bridge and you’ll enter Lacks Park, a small, serene greenspace that feels like an oasis in the city.

The River’s Edge

Be Still and Know

Noahquageshik Sculpture

60 Front Ave

The River’s Edge is an abstract assemblage of bird, fish, wave and water forms surrounding a tall pyramidal spike. The bright white steel sculpture mixes organic and geometric forms to express the nature of life near the river. Internationally known sculptor James Clover created this piece, which was installed here in 1989.

Be Still and Know is a 32-foot-tall steel sculpture by Michigan artist John Merigian, who says the piece “encourages us to quiet ourselves down, to look up, to take some time to consider.” Be Still and Know was created for ArtPrize, the international art competition and cultural festival that has been held in Grand Rapids since 2009. The sculpture was entered in ArtPrize 2011 and has been a permanent installation in Lacks Park ever since. 

The bronze sculpture that “greets” you as you exit the Bridge and Lacks Park is a likeness of

Noahquageshik aka Nawquageezhig aka Chief Noonday, who led the Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians. When traders arrived in the greater Grand Rapids area, this Native American leader helped welcome the new settlers. Sculptor Antonio Tobias Mendez sculpted this piece for the city’s Community Legends project, an ongoing initiative to erect 25 bronze statues honoring people who helped shape Grand Rapids. (Click here for a tour of all our Community Legends sculptures.) The Noahquageshik sculpture was installed here in 2010.

Walk past the sculpture and the Grand Valley State University Eberhard Center on your left to Front Ave. Turn left on Front and keep going to pass through a highway underpass brightened by In Our Element, a mural created by artist Ruben Ubiera for ArtPrize 2015.

As you exit the underpass, you’ve arrived at the Pew Campus of Grand Valley State University, the largest college in West Michigan. (GVSU has another campus in Allendale, 14 miles due west.)  Turn left on Mt. Vernon Ave and right (west) when you reach Fulton St.

The Embrace

Magela-S

401 Fulton St W

In a few hundred feet you’ll reach the entrance to the Richard M. DeVos Center of GVSU. Follow the brick pathway to a small courtyard. Here, you’ll encounter The Embrace, a bronze rendering of two round organic shapes encircling each other but not touching. This the work of American artist Joseph Kinnebrew, an iconic figure in the history of art in West Michigan. Several other Kinnebrew pieces are sited downtown and at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, a 10-minute drive from the city center. The Embrace was installed here in 2000.

Retrace your steps out of the courtyard and look to your right. You’ll see two metal sculptures with intricate cut-outs standing side by side in the lawn beyond a massive carillon. Dutch artist Cyril Lixenberg titled this installation Magela-S after his late wife Saskia. The piece is based on the biblical story of Queen Esther, which is traditionally read from illuminated scrolls that have meaning when read both vertically and horizontally. Lixenberg entered this piece in ArtPrize 2010 and then donated it to GVSU.

Head back to the intersection of Fulton and Mt. Vernon and cross Fulton to the Mt. Vernon pedestrian pathway.

Akii Ndodeom (Earth Totem)

Right at the entrance to the pathway is a 20-foot-tall carved limestone sculpture created by Jason Quigno, a local Anishinaabe artist. The Anishinaabe were the original people of this place, and Quigno incorporated symbols reflecting Anishinaabe culture in this piece titled Akii Ndodeom (Earth Totem). The four sides represent four cardinal directions, four seasons, and four stages of life, while deep cuts represent rivers and raised areas reflect the Seven Grandfather Teachings ­– principles of character that each Anishinaabe should live by. The piece was commissioned by GVSU to present themes of unity and shared humanity honoring its location in a community space first inhabited by Indigenous groups.

Continue along the Mt. Vernon pathway to see other sculptures outside GVSU buildings.

Untitled (Bent Disk with Square Void)

Untitled (Bent Square with Circular Void)

Two more Cyril Lixenberg pieces are located at Winter Hall, a GVSU residence facility. Untitled (Bent Disk with Square Void) is near the north end of the Hall and its companion piece, Untitled (Bent Square with Circular Void), sits near the south end. Both reflect the artist’s lifelong exploration of geometric abstraction. Lixenberg was fond of Grand Rapids and traveled here often from his Amsterdam home, including for a 2013 retrospective of his work hosted by GVSU. The artist passed away in 2015.

The Boom and the Bust

Clans of the Anishinaabek

Mayan Stelae of King K'ak' Tiliw Chan Topaat

Mathias J. Alten Sculpture

L. William Seidman Center, home to GVSU’s Seidman College of Business, hosts several outdoor sculptures, including The Boom and The Bust, a 25-foot-tall piece in three sections: a base resembling a single home, a midsection featuring a steel lattice supporting an array of small homes, and a top portion resembling a skyscraper. Artist Olalekan Jeyifous was inspired by his research into housing discrimination and displacement in Grand Rapids. Made of steel and wood, The Boom and the Bust was shown in Grand Rapids during the ArtPrize event known as Project 1 in 2019.

The 10-foot-tall Clans of the Anishinaabek is another Jason Quigno piece. This limestone sculpture depicts the seven clans of the Anishinaabek:  Crane, Loon, Bear, Turtle, Martin, Fish and Bird. The name Anishinaabe means “The Original People” and refers to the Odawa, Ojibwe (Chippewa) and Potawotami tribes that originally settled the Grand Rapids area. Anishinaabek is the plural form of Anishinaabe. Quigno entered this piece in ArtPrize 2011.

The Mathias J. Alten sculpture is a 500-pound bronze statue by Grand Rapids-based sculptor J Brett Grill. Alten, a German-born immigrant to West Michigan, is often referred to as the “dean of Michigan painters.” Working in a traditional representational style, he created more than 3,000 works of art during his prolific career including landscapes, seascapes, portraits, florals and still-lifes. Grill’s sculpture, a 2023 ArtPrize entry, depicts Alten carrying a paintbox and easel as he sets out to paint en plein air.

Mayan Stelae of King K'ak' Tiliw Chan Topaat, by Jose Marcelino Valdez and Gerson Valdez-Cordon, is inspired by the stone sculptures, or stelae, carved by the Maya people who lived in Mesoamerica. The stelae are upright, flat slabs of stone worked in relief meant to symbolize the strength and power of the most prominent individuals of their time. This tribute piece is made of carved cement.

Head back on the Mt. Vernon pedestrian pathway and cross Fulton St to Mt Vernon Ave. Follow Mt Vernon Ave to Pearl St, about two-tenths of a mile. Turn right (east) on Pearl St and walk another two-tenths of a mile to the Grand Rapids Public Museum on your right.

Apollo Space Capsule

Memorial Fire Bell

272 Pearl St NW

The Grand Rapids Public Museum, home to one of Michigan’s largest collections of historical/cultural artifacts and scientific specimens, hosts two unique “sculptures” on its front lawn. The Apollo Space Capsule is a boilerplate capsule built by NASA in the 1960s for training astronauts. Known as BP-1227, the capsule was lost at sea in 1970 and retrieved by Russia. It was returned to the U.S. and fully restored before being gifted to Grand Rapids in 1976, when local high school students filled it with everyday items from their lives to form a time capsule. The capsule will be opened on July 4, 2076.

The Memorial Fire Bell in front of the Museum dates back to the city’s first fire department in the late 1870s. First hung in a wooden tower at the southeast corner of Pearl and Ottawa streets, it was later moved to the clock tower of the newly built City Hall, where it tolled on the hour for the next 81 years. Today, it serves as a reminder of the sacrifice and honorable spirit of all firefighters who’ve served and continue to serve the Grand Rapids community.

NOTE: These two sculptures have been moved to storage as the Grand Rapids Public Museum is currently expanding to enhance its outdoor exhibit space. Construction is expected to be completed in fall 2025.

Cross Pearl St at the crosswalk in front of the Museum to enter Ah-Nab-Awen Park.

Spirit of Solidarity Monument

Indian Mounds

Nishnabe Gemaw

Lorrie’s Button

220 Front Ave NW

At the south edge of the park, you’ll see the Spirit of Solidarity Labor Monument, which commemorates the Grand Rapids furniture worker’s strike of 1911. (Grand Rapids was then a world leader in furniture production.) Grand Rapids artist Roberto Chenlo carved and cast three larger-than-life bronze sculptures, two men and one woman, to represent the workers and their wives.

Four entry walks into the monument area symbolize the four ethnic groups involved in the strike – Dutch, Germans, Lithuanians and Poles – and the rough-hewn granite walls surrounding the figures embody the strength and grit of the striking community. Water cascades down the walls to evoke the Grand River and the turmoil the strikers faced.

Just beyond the monument are three earthen mounds meant to represent the three major indigenous tribes of Michigan: the Ottawa, Potawatomi and Chippewa. Ah-Nab-Awen, which translates to “resting place,” was originally home to a series of burial mounds built by the Hopewell indigenous peoples between 450 B.C. and 450 A.D. Settlers to the area leveled the original mounds in the 1850s to provide dirt for streets. Ah-Nab-Awen visitors are asked to stay off the mounds out of respect for what they represent.

Continue south in the park to a bronze statue of early Native American leader Nishnabe Gemaw standing atop a boulder. A committee of elders from the Odawa, Ojibwa and Potawatomi tribes commissioned sculptor Tom Hills to create this piece. 

Another 300 feet south is the bright red Lorrie’s Button by artist Hy Zelkowitz, winner of a 1976 playground sculpture competition. Children are welcome to climb on this piece, and the wear and tear makes it one of the most expensive artworks the city must maintain.

Number 48

Man In Space

Gerald R. Ford Sculpture

Betty Ford Sculpture

Praise

303 Pearl St NW

Ah-Nab-Awen Park is right in front of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. Known as America’s most entertaining presidential museum, it explores the life and times of the man who grew up in Grand Rapids and represented the area in Congress for 26 years before being tapped for the Vice Presidency and then the Presidency. There are several sculptures of note on the grounds of the Museum:

• Number 48 is a whimsical maize-and-blue steel tribute to the President’s football days at the University of Michigan created by Michigan scrap metal dealer and artist Stuart Padnos.
• Man in Space is a 3,000-pound sculpture by New York Artist Judson Nelson that commemorates Ford’s consistent support of the American space program.
• Bronze sculptures of the President and First Lady Betty Ford are situated outside the main entrance to the Museum. Artist J. Brett Grill created both pieces, the Betty Ford statue for the city’s Community Legends Project.  
• Praise is a stainless steel sculpture in the Betty Ford Garden at the front of the Museum. Created by artist Ryan Schmidt, the piece features graceful curves that reflect Betty's elegance and poise as a dancer and complement the organic shapes of the garden. It was installed in 2025.

You can also pay your respects to the 38th president and his wife at their gravesites on the Museum property.

Walk to the rear of the Museum to reach Scribner Ave. Turn right (north) and travel about 300 yards to Bridge St. Cross Bridge and head left (west) on Bridge about one-tenth of a mile to the statue out front of Arktos Meadery.

Stanley Ketchel Sculpture

442 Bridge St NW

Another in the city’s Community Legends series, this bronze sculpture pays tribute to middleweight boxer Stanley Ketchel, known as the “Michigan Assassin” for his prowess in the ring. Ketchel won the World Middleweight Title in 1907 and is regarded by boxing historians as one of the greatest middleweights in boxing history. Born in Grand Rapids in 1888, he was murdered on a ranch in Missouri when he was just 24 years old.

You are now in the Bridge Street Entertainment district, which is lined with restaurants, breweries, bars, taprooms and cocktail lounges. You can end your journey here with a meal or a beverage – or refuel for one final sculpture stop, about a half mile away.

Walk back east along Bridge St past Scribner Ave to just before the Grand River. Follow the Grand River Edges Trail along the river to the north. In about three-tenths of a mile, you’ll reach Fish Ladder Park.

Fish Ladder Sculpture

606 Front Ave NW

Artist Joseph Kinnebrew designed this functional sculpture, which allows migrating fish to bypass the Grand River’s rough waters and jump up the “ladder” in their seasonal migrations. Salmon migrate in the fall, typically between early September and late October. Steelhead show up between mid-February and late April, and again from early November to mid-December. The Fish Ladder sculpture was installed in 1975.

You can now take the Grand River Edges Trail back south all the way to your original starting point, the Blue Bridge. Or you can continue north on the trail from Fish Ladder Park to 6^th Street and traverse the historic Sixth Street Bridge into the North Monroe neighborhood of downtown GR. You can then take the east Grand River Edges Trail south to the Blue Bridge, or follow Monroe Ave north into the heart of downtown GR.

Keep your eye out for even more sculptures on your journey. We’ve hit the high points, but there are other art pieces along the way and more added all the time!