Frog Sculpture Brings Art, Water, and Community Together in the Rice Creek Watershed District
The Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD), the City of Fridley, and the Fridley Public Art Commission are excited to share that the highly anticipated frog sculpture at Moore Lake Park has been installed!
Arriving in early August, this vibrant, six-foot-tall public artwork by local artist Jessica Turtle now sits surrounded by native plants that will become its permanent home. The piece represents Minnesota’s state amphibian, the Northern leopard frog, a species that thrives only where water quality is good. Its presence at Moore Lake is a reminder of the connection between clean water, wildlife, and healthy communities.
Jessica Turtle dedicated more than 300 hours to the sculpture, shaping its concrete form by hand, designing and painting hundreds of colorful tiles. The result is a one-of-a-kind, interactive piece that’s tough enough to withstand climbing and sitting. It’s meant to be engaged with, take photos, share its inspiration, and let it spark conversations about caring for our water and environment.
At the same time, we ask all of you to treat the frog with respect and care. It now belongs to the park, to this community, and to everyone who helped make it possible. Everyone that lives in RCWD and in the City of Fridley helped pay for and inspire this art piece.
This project also marks RCWD’s (and Fridley’s!) first large-scale public art collaboration, made possible by the partnerships with the City of Fridley’s Public Art Commission, the Fridley Arts Foundation, Fridley city staff, and community donors.
The frog sculpture is more than art, it’s a symbol of partnership, creativity, and the important connection between healthy water and healthy communities.
“Public art is a new tool for us at RCWD, but one that is great for reaching more people and starting conversations about our water resources,” said Kendra Sommerfeld, RCWD’s Outreach & Communications Manager, who first brought the idea of this art project to the City of Fridley. “Art gets people’s attention, makes complicated issues more approachable, and creates shared experiences that help us all better understand the importance of clean water, stormwater management, and being good stewards of our environment.”
By using art as a form of communication and community engagement, RCWD is connecting with a wider range of communities and inspiring new ways of thinking about water.
