Artist Michael Benisty's work can usually be found in the Nevada desert at Burning Man or the backyards of the ultra-rich, but one of his beyond-life-size steel sculptures is in a developing neighborhood outside Aurora, Colorado.
Benisty’s piece, “Broken but Together,” features two people made of mirror-polished steel towering 25 feet in a close embrace. It’s the artist’s only piece available for public viewing and one of 25 public art installations in The Aurora Highlands development.
The development will eventually host 40 permanent art pieces, according to developer Carla Ferreira. Another Benisty piece, a depiction of the Statue of Liberty standing 60 feet tall, will be installed this summer.
Ferreira’s art-centric approach to The Aurora Highlands development is atypical. Community amenities are most often clubhouses and pools, but this project turns a focus to culture with its dozens of art pieces. One is a bronze statue dedicated to the state’s first Black female licensed doctor, Justina Ford. Another guides visitors through a tunnel with the words “The only way out is through” written in bright blue neon. It’s turned the development into a tourist attraction of sorts, bringing in art-appreciating visitors and potential buyers.
“Public art can sometimes feel very thoughtless because it’s like: ‘Oh, I just plopped this sculpture here because I need to build a building. We have to do this," said Ferreira, who said she took the “we get to do this” route instead, using her background in art to connect with renowned artists and procure pieces at a discount.
When completed, Aurora Highlands will have just under 12,000 housing units across 4,000 acres. It has sold about 830, said Ferreira, with 10 homebuilders constructing single-family homes. Another 3,000 units are to come with the development of a neighboring piece of land where Ferreira plans to include homes starting at $300,000 and multifamily products. Two miles of the development are dedicated to the public works of art in the aptly named Art in the Park.
The most attention-grabbing installation came in 2023 from South African artist Daniel Popper. The sculpture, “Umi,” a 21-foot-tall woman whose body is made of twisting and curving tree branches created from fiberglass-reinforced concrete, brings in about 1,000 monthly visitors, according to Ferreira.
“It really is turning into an Instagram photo destination, but also just a destination for people who follow Daniel's art and who have been personally touched by it,” said Ferreira, who’s seen photoshoots at the statue and met visitors from Canada, Oregon, New York, New Jersey and Washington.
Ferreira secured the piece after Popper concluded his exhibition, "Human+Nature," in Morton Arboretum, a public garden in the Chicago suburbs. Popper made it larger and adjusted the face for its permanent residency in Colorado. Another featured artist, Olivia Steele, encouraged Ferreira to reach out to Popper, and from that came a connection to Benisty.
The Umi sculpture also features image mapping, where light projections overlay the piece, making it a constant source of entertainment even at night.
At the start of the park, an abstract sculpture by Hunter Brown features a reflective sphere surrounded by flowing red forms, which he said represents communities uplifting one another. Another 33-foot-high sculpture by Brown called “Asclepius” lights up at night. It is inspired by the staff of Asclepius and recognized as the symbol of medicine.
The art has helped provide potential buyers with a locale that’s rich in culture despite being in the suburbs, said Ferreira, who also hosts summertime events featuring DJs that gather another 1,000 attendees.
“I heard a story from two different families that said that they had come out to look at houses and then saw the art and said, ‘OK, this is actually a really cool place to live. We didn't want to move to the suburbs and felt like we weren't cool anymore," said Ferreira.
With a housing market “clenching,” as she puts it, the art draws in visitors, and it makes Ferreira happy, even if they’re not potential buyers.
“We are inviting people to come hang out, even if they're not purchasing something. That's always going to be a big deal for us,” said Ferreira. “It might not be your home today, but maybe in the future it is.”