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Stairs

About the Sculpture

“Stairs” by Vicky Loschuk was selected as one of the two winners in a contest for public art to be installed on Centennial Mall in 1987. The contest was created to demonstrate confidence in Nebraska artists and their abilities, restricting entrants to those have resided in the state for at least one year at time of entry. Though neither of the winning sculptures would be installed on Centennial Mall due to controversy over the overall aesthetic of the mall, they would be installed in 1987 at a spot chosen by city officials with the artists’ input within Antelope Park near the bandstand. “Stairs” now resides at Bishop Heights Park as a feature of the Rock Island Trail.

The sculpture itself is a set of stairs, as the name suggests, cast in concrete with handmade blue ceramic tiles forming a mosaic surface. According to the artist, “Stairs imply vertical movement and refer to other worlds, horizons, decisions, and dreams.” By creating her stairs, Loschuk gave Lincoln an opening to forward movement and advancement, specifically if it had been placed on Centennial Mall, leading to the Capital Building.

Close up of the tiling and stair formation on the Stairs sculpture

Extreme close up of the blue tiling for the Stairs sculpture

About the Artist Vicky Loschuk

Vicky Loschuk is a Canadian-born artist who was a resident artist at the Bemis Artist Colony in Omaha in the mid-1980s as well as an instructor at the University of Nebraska-Omaha when she entered and won the contest with her sculpture, “Stairs”.

Additional Information

Bishop Heights Park, 30th & Prescott Avenue, Lincoln 68502

Length: 5.5 ft.

Width: 3.5 ft.

Height: 4.5 ft.