Local artists Gus and Lina Ocamposilva were selected for the city’s next public art project.
Oldsmar’s latest public art project is “magical,” according to the local artists selected to install a 16-foot-tall metal sculpture titled “Winners Way” at the Oldsmar Sports Complex this year. That was the reaction married artists Gus and Lina Ocamposilva had when they learned they were chosen by a selection committee from a pool of more than 50 applicants nationwide.
“Something magical happened to us when we saw that call to artists,” Gus Ocamposilva said during a recent meet-the-artists event at their Bayview Boulevard studio. “We thought, we live in Oldsmar and they’re looking for the things we love—interactivity, movement, artistry, poetry. It felt like this was made for us!”
The Artists: Gus and Lina Ocamposilva
Since they began working together in Atlanta in 2003, the Ocamposilvas have designed and built more than two dozen permanent public art installations and worked on 72 public art projects around the country, from New York to Chicago, California to Miami. Despite their impressive portfolio, which includes massive, colorful metal sculptures that immediately capture the attention and the imagination of onlookers, the Ocamposilvas believe this public art project in their own backyard carries an extra special meaning.
The aluminum artwork in Oldsmar depicts 5 athletes in action.
“We’re very proud to be part of this wonderful project,” Lina Ocamposilva said, noting the purpose of the painted, all-aluminum piece, which depicts five athletes in action atop a star-shaped base, is “to help people feel more belonging to the community, like, ‘this art is ours.’ She said people “can walk around it and drive around it and experience it from different angles,” adding the call-to-artists “said it needed to be interactive, so you can climb on it and of course people will want to take pictures in front of it!”
The couple explained their “long process” that involves creating the star shaped sculpture out of 4” aluminum tubing in separate pieces in the studio and then transporting them to the site where it will be reassembled. “It’s a tough process because aluminum is very difficult to weld because of the amount of heat needed,” Gus Ocamposilva said, noting after the red and yellow painted metal pieces are assembled, a concrete path will be added leading up to the site, which will face Tampa Road.
Byrne said the city council recently approved the project, which is budgeted at $40,000.
“Today they received the final contract, and now they can truly begin!” she said, adding the couple spent an extensive amount of time at the OSC researching the site and “taking everything in.” The Ocamposilvas gave a timeframe of a few months, including seven weeks for the concrete base to set, and three hours to install it, and noted “Winners Way” will be structurally sound. “We are aware of hurricanes and the forces of wind, so our sculptures have parts to make them sturdy,” Lina Ocamposilva said.
When asked how they will feel when the final project is revealed, Gus Ocamposilva said he planned to “stand back and see how people react, because every work we finish is like one of our babies, and when the installation is done, we have to let it go!” Lina added, “It makes us happy to know we sent a message and people are getting it. We’re really proud of it.”
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