Art in Uncommon Places has placed over 3,000 glow stones along a mile of the Red Arroyo Trail, in what could be the world's longest path ever created using the small glowing pebbles. These glow stones, which absorb solar energy during the day and glow at night, will cause the path to glow in the dark. The project is on pace to be finished in three days.
“We’ve had that 10 years of incubation of thinking ‘what is it that we really want to put on this path?’” Art in Uncommon Places production manager Anthony Samaripa said. “We just wanted to think of a way of some art that could be interactive and also attract more people to utilize the path.”
The project officially began when the San Angelo Health Foundation signed a grant to fund the construction of the trail. Furthermore, Glow Stones USA provided the glow stones for Art in Uncommon Places.
Art in Uncommon Places was founded about 10 years ago by retired art teachers Julie Raymond and Sue Rainey. Since then, the nonprofit organization has worked on projects such as the decorative Volkswagen Beetles and mosaics by the river.
“We did a mural for Christoval last year and it’s a rendition of the Concho River that runs through Christoval,”Samaripa said. “We used glows stones there, so we just kind of got addicted to glow stones.”
Raymond stated that Art in Uncommon Places plans to apply for a record in the Guinness Book of World Records. Raymond also said that a team of 12 people are on site every day from 7 a.m. to late in the evening.
“It’s quite an experience,” Raymond said. ”It’s been an epic installation.”
The best experience for those on the path will be on a dark night after a sunny day. The sunnier the day, the more sunlight the glow stones absorb. The darker the night, the more visible the glow.
“I think it’s going to be a beautiful art piece and I think it’s going to be a breathtaking experience for people,” Raymond said. “You can’t really see the glow stone glow until you’re on top of it, so it’s like they light up personally for you.”
Raymond said that the total budget for the project was $50,000. Those costs include glow stones, equipment and food.
“As soon as we have the cement here, we have to be right on top of it,” Raymond said, noting that each of the small glow stones were placed in the cement walkway by hand. “Everything is very time sensitive out here. Very.”
Raymond said that the organization has done “big research” for the project.
“We have city people that’ve been wonderful to us as well as city engineers and parks and recreation,” Raymond said. “We’ve just had a lot of support. It’s a huge group effort.”
Although the majority of the project will be completed in three days, Samaripa said that there are a few spots on the path that will not be completed yet.
“We’ve got it down,” Samaripa said. “It’s a beast. We knew what we were getting ourselves into going in. There’s so many different factors that come into the conception, the installation and everything that happens with it. So it’s been a journey, definitely.”
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