Giant Steel Birds Now Watch Over Visitors at OKC's Scissortail Park

Two 12-foot-tall steel-and-fiberglass scissortail flycatchers now perch atop lampposts nearly 24 feet above the ground in the Lower Park of Oklahoma City's Scissortail Park, staring down at the humans below instead of the other way around. The new installation, called People Watching, officially debuted Thursday in downtown Oklahoma City after more than a year in development.

The piece was designed by artist Matthew Mazzotta, who was chosen for the project, according to News 9. A committee reviewed more than 25 submissions before narrowing the field to three potential artists, who were then interviewed and asked to submit another piece before Mazzotta was ultimately selected. The station reports the sculptures are finished with automotive paint and a clear coat intended to help the installation last for many years.

Mazzotta described the concept as an inversion of the typical park experience, in which visitors watch birds rather than the reverse. “The birds enter the built environment and coexist with humans,” he said, according to the station's report, adding that the piece reflects the idea that humans must live with all the other beings on the planet.

A Year in the Making, Funded Through the City's Art Ordinance

The $244,000 project was funded through Oklahoma City's 1% for Art Ordinance alongside private donations from the Scissortail Park Foundation, according to the Scissortail Park Facebook page. City project manager Leondre Lattimore oversaw the project's implementation, per the same account. The ordinance, adopted by the Oklahoma City Council in 2009 and managed by the city's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs and its volunteer Arts Commission, mandates that 1 percent of the construction budget for city-owned buildings, facilities, parks and trails go toward permanent public art.

Michelle Furrer, CEO and president of the Scissortail Park Foundation, said the park aims to connect people with nature through art, the station's report notes. Park officials say Scissortail Park plans to continue adding installations, events and programs going forward, per the same account.

Joining a Flock of Flycatcher-Inspired Landmarks

People Watching now joins the Skydance Bridge and the Taking Flight: Light as a Feather sculpture as scissortail-inspired art pieces spread across the park, balancing out the park's existing bird-themed landmarks according to the station's report. The 380-foot-long Skydance Pedestrian Bridge, which spans Interstate 40 and connects the park's upper and lower halves, opened in April 2012 at a cost of $5.8 million and features a 197-foot-tall steel sculpture designed by S-X-L and inspired by the mating flight of the scissor-tailed flycatcher, according to the City of Oklahoma City.

The park's other major bird sculpture, the 31-foot-tall, 6-ton steel piece Taking Flight: Light as a Feather, was designed by Brooklyn-based StudioKCA and installed near the park's north entrance, with a project budget of more than $500,000 funded through the same 1% for Art program, according to Visit Oklahoma City. That sculpture, dedicated in December 2022, honors late Oklahoma City Arts Liaison Robbie Kienzle, who managed the city's public art program for more than a decade before her death from cancer in June 2022; Mayor David Holt led the official lighting ceremony, per the same source.

The recurring flycatcher motif traces back to 1951, when the scissor-tailed flycatcher was officially designated Oklahoma's state bird under House Bill 27, as Hoodline has reported. That designation has made the bird a central visual symbol across major public architecture and municipal artwork throughout the city.

More Public Art on the Way for OKC

Mazzotta brings an international résumé to the project. He is a 2018 Harvard Loeb Fellow and 2019 Guggenheim Fellow recognized for social-practice public art, including HOME, a well-known giant flamingo installation at Tampa International Airport, according to his Wikipedia entry. He holds a Master of Science in Visual Studies from MIT.

Oklahoma City's public art pipeline is not slowing down. In July, the Oklahoma City Council approved a 1% for Art allocation for an 80,000-square-foot terrazzo floor installation titled One Voice. One OKC by local artist Matt Goad, planned for the forthcoming Continental Coliseum arena set to open in 2028, according to the Oklahoma Gazette. That project will be funded under the same municipal ordinance that helped bring People Watching to life.

Scissortail Park, a 70-acre, $132 million project funded through the voter-approved MAPS 3 sales tax initiative, spans both sides of Interstate 40 between South Walker Avenue and South Shields Boulevard, with a 40-acre Upper Park that opened in September 2019 and a 30-acre Lower Park that opened in September 2022, as Hoodline previously reported. The park is open daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., and People Watching now sits in the Lower Park section, giving visitors one more reason to look up.