By admin 
Another piece of public art could soon join the Dawn Staley statue and other sculptures along Senate Street in the Vista.
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One Columbia for Arts and Culture and the Congaree Vista Guild have been collecting qualifications from South Carolina artists to design and build a new sculpture for the median in the 900 block of Senate Street. The organizations are offering $18,000 for the commissioned work, which covers the artist’s design, materials, fabrication, engineering and installation costs. The budget comes from hospitality tax dollars.
The Vista’s public art committee will review the submissions and select three finalists, who will each receive $250 to develop a proposal. The committee will then choose the winning design.
“We never do projects where we ask a for a proposal without paying the artist,” said One Columbia public art administrator Pamela Zaljak.
The sculpture’s exact appearance is still up to the artist. Organizers are looking for something “eye-catching, potentially colorful” that reflects the vibe of the Vista’s entertainment district, rather than prescribing a specific theme, Zeljak said.
The sculpture will go on the section of the Senate Street median closer to Assembly Street. The other section of the median already has three sculptures, while the section selected for the new project is currently empty. Organizers said they could eventually add one or two more pieces there, and even possibly a bench, to create a sculpture garden. But for now, they’re taking it one piece at a time.
The area is already becoming something of a public-art corridor. The nearby works include “I Love You,” a sculpture by Bob Doster (sometimes called the “I love you hand,”) “Her Heart,” a tribute to Columbia artist and gallerist Anastasia Chernoff, and a Peace Pole along Senate Street.
The Dawn Staley statue, unveiled in 2025, is also on the median, next to the USC Pastides Alumni Center and across from the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.
The investment in public art also comes as the corridor is seeing new growth. The former restaurant property at 931 Senate St. is being redeveloped into a seven-story, 221-unit mixed-use apartment building.
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Abby Anderson, executive director of the Congaree Vista Guild, said the growth makes the area a natural place for more public art.
“This is a bustling corridor and we would love there to be more public art in that area,” she said.
The project is part of the Vista’s broader effort to plan where and what kinds of public art belong in the district. Organizers envision the collection potentially becoming a place where people can stroll, sit and spend time around the artwork as the corridor develops.
The Senate Street project is part of a broader public art push by the Vista Guild. In the past two years, the Guild has helped bring several new pieces to the district, including “The Convergence,” a wall sculpture on Park Street, and “Kaleidoscope of Columbia,” a mural at the north entrance of the Lincoln Street Tunnel.
A sculpture called “Traverse” was also installed at the tunnel’s south entrance in June. The Guild is also working on a new lighting installation inside the Lincoln Street Tunnel, with colorful lights planned for this fall. Anderson said the project is intended to give people another reason to use the tunnel and connect the Vista with Finlay Park.
Anderson said public art is particularly important to the Vista because artists helped shape the district before it became one of downtown Columbia’s main entertainment and hospitality areas. Artists moved into the Vista’s inexpensive warehouse and studio spaces when the area was largely abandoned, helping draw people to the district.
“We like to celebrate that as our history,” Anderson said. “And so we love that we continue to do that and appreciate the arts, and it’s just important to us.”
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