Public art blossoms near West Columbia riverfront

Finishing touches are being put on a mural of daylilies in West Columbia that city officials hope becomes the talk of the town and well beyond.

It’s part of an effort to attract more interest to shops and neighborhoods along the city’s share of the Congaree River.

The mural will serve as the background for visitors who pose inside adjoining metal frames for photographs.

“We’re doing something you can’t do in an art museum,” said artist Colleen Otte, who designed the project. “We’re pulling the frame off the wall and giving you the opportunity to get into the art.”

It’s on the edge of a parking lot at State and Meetings streets nicknamed the “dumpster disaster.”

Now waste disposal containers for nearby restaurants and stores will be kept in a fenced pen instead of scattered there openly.

“That had become just an eyesore,” said Sara Cogswell, owner of nearby Gallery West arts and antiques. “It was kind of embarrassing.”

The exhibit is the first of what city officials hope will become several displays of public art scattered across the Lexington County community of 15,000 residents just across the Gervais Street bridge from downtown Columbia.

The art work also is the centerpiece of a $32,000 package of improvements for the riverfront shops that include new landscaping, paid for partly with private donations.

The idea is to implant an “artisan flavor” in the area, eyeglass shop owner Mark Plessinger said.

That goal fits with a planned major development a block closer to the river that includes stores, restaurants, apartments and condominiums – and that city leaders say will spark a commercial renaissance on their riverfront.

Adding public art to the mix is part of “dressing up the area,” Mayor Bobby Horton said.