New Art in downtown Liberty invites you to 'Stop and Smell the Roses"

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — They’re hoping you’ll stop and "Smell the Roses" when you’re in Liberty, Missouri. That’s the name and the idea behind this new 30- foot-long sculpture in downtown.

"The purpose of art is to have an experience. It’s not to just look at a thing on a screen or read about something it’s to go be in a place and have a moment and have an experience," said Greg Duncan with the Liberty Arts Commission. "We have art all over Liberty, all kinds of art that does those things. This is particular. This is special. This is a place to pause, stop, smell the roses, enjoy the roses, and just have a real life moment with something tangible in the same space as you."

I talked to a few folks in downtown Liberty to see what they thought of the sculpture.

"It's exactly what this area needed with more color and pizzazz," said Gwen Phillips, a longtime resident.

"That rose sculpture, when it showed up a couple of weeks ago, I got out of my car and I took a couple of pictures, and then I moved a little bit and then I took a few more pictures, but I haven't been back to see it at night," said Stacey Schulz.

The glass in the roses is lit which glows at night. After two years in the making, a national culture artist, the artist who made this sculpture is actually from Independence, Missouri.

"Even as the installation was happening and then the days between installation and ribbon cutting, every time I drove by someone was here taking a picture," said Duncan."So when people stop and take pictures of public art and pose with public art, you know you’ve got the right thing in the right place."

Duncan told me funding for the art came from Liberty's transient guest tax. The artist is Amie Jacobsen. I was looking through her Instagram, and saw that she has pieces all over town. That's also how I found this. I'm from Liberty so I saw this piece on the Visit Liberty Instagram along with some fascinating train history. I'll have more on that later this week.