Bismarck, North Dakota - News

ST. LOUIS — The dogwoods are in full bloom, showing off their delicate white and pale pink blossoms. The azaleas are just about to burst in a roar of fuchsia and purple. And everywhere tulips are reaching toward the sun in clusters and neat rows of yellow, red, purple, pink and orange.

Spring has never sprung more colorfully at Missouri Botanical Garden. But who are those ladies, threatening to steal the show by dancing in the fountains?

The Nanas, naturally. They’re everywhere this season — frolicking in the fountains outside Linnean House, surfing atop a dolphin near the Climatron, playing with a partner just beyond the Children’s Garden.

The Nanas are the creation of Niki de Saint Phalle, a French artist known for her whimsical mosaic sculptures covered in glass, mirrors and stones. And they’re among this summer’s stars at Missouri Botanical Garden, threatening to eclipse even nature’s bounty.

But what’s a Nana?

“Nana means ‘chick’ or ‘girl’ in French,” said Marcelo Zitelli, trustee of the Niki Charitable Art Foundation, who visited St. Louis in April to help launch the exhibition. Zitelli worked as an assistant to Niki, who died in 2002, for 16 years.

“She wanted to tell people that women were capable, able to do art, to think and be active in society,” Zitelli said.

Apparently, Nanas just want to have fun, too.

What other explanation could there be for, shall we say, a well-proportioned woman in a mirrored swimsuit standing on one leg atop a dolphin as it leaps out of a small pond?

“She did this sculpture when she came to San Diego in California, and she was very impressed about Shamu (at Sea World) and its relationship with human beings,” said Zitelli, an Argentine actor and director before he met Niki in 1986. “So she had the idea to do a Nana on a dolphin, which is a very colorful and funny piece.”

The collection of 40 whimsical sculptures by Niki, who wanted to be known by her first name, is the latest art installation at Missouri Botanical Garden, a 79-acre park in central St. Louis that has been attracting visitors for nearly 150 years.

“Art has always been a part of botanical gardens,” said Lynn Kerkemeyer, special exhibits manager at Missouri Botanical Garden. “It makes sense that we would be the avenue for these kinds of art exhibitions that really are bigger than what museum walls can contain. It just seems to be a perfect kind of marriage.”

An exhibition of Niki’s work makes sense. After all, she designed and built two permanent sculpture gardens, the Tarot Garden in the Tuscany region of Italy and Queen Califia’s Magical Circle, near San Diego.

“Niki as an individual gave two gardens in her lifetime, so it’s perfect,” Kerkemeyer said. “It’s similar to what Henry Shaw did. He gave this garden to the city of St. Louis, and Niki also had this vision to give a garden of sculpture to two different cities.”

The St. Louis sculptures, which will be on display through Oct. 31, include Buddhas, chairs, snakes, golfers, musicians and alligators.

“When you hear about it, you wouldn’t instinctively think the two go together, because this is such a different style of art,” Kerkemeyer said. “It’s not classical, as far as what you think of as garden art. It’s out of the box.

“But it’s colorful, and gardens are colorful typically. I think the natural setting really enhances the beauty of the individual pieces, and it provides a backdrop in scale to the large pieces.”

Whatever else they do, the sculptures command attention — just as the artist did.

Niki, who was self-taught, became known in the 1960s for her “shooting paintings,” in which she fired bullets through containers of paint, which then spilled onto the canvas.

Later came the Nanas, which she called “heralds of a new matriarchal age.” Like many of Niki’s sculptures spread across the park, they convey individual messages as well.

Those dancing ladies in the fountain, for instance — “The Three Graces” — are black, yellow and white.

“She wanted to do a dance between different races,” Zitelli said. “I think it was her idea about different races to be able to dance together and to have a very good relationship between them.”

Just outside the Climatron stands one of the artist’s most provocative and serious pieces — “Le Temple ideal,” or “The Church of All Religions.” In gold-colored paint atop the sculpture are obvious references to Christianity, Judaism and Islam, as well as more obscure references.

Besides the Nanas, Niki worked in various themes during her career. Her totems, featuring cats, bulls and birds, among other creatures, are part of an homage to animals and American Indian culture.

Some of the sculptures are interactive — and irresistible to children. The garden is a natural attraction for school groups on spring outings, and in late April children were everywhere, climbing up and around the Guardian Lions, part of a Noah’s Ark project Niki did in Jerusalem, and especially on her Nikigator.

“This sculpture is made for kids,” Zitelli said. “Niki always said, ‘Kids are the best public for me. I work for kids.’ So it’s like a playground.”

They also loved “La Cabeza,” a 6-ton mosaic skull plopped just across the path from the Children’s Garden.

“This sculpture is part of Niki’s love for Mexican art,” Zitelli said, “and she also wanted people to think about death.

“She thought that death wasn’t really a bad thing — the next level of life — and she wanted to have a very bright and colorful image of death.”

It might seem like a frightening image for children, but they were climbing atop the shiny skull, sitting in the eye cavities — even inside the head, where they could peer out through the pearly teeth back into the garden.

That one happens to be Zitelli’s favorite, too.

St. Louis is just the third American city for Niki’s playland, following stops in Atlanta and Chicago. Next year the exhibit will go to Spain.

“She worked like crazy,” Zitelli said, “creating 3,500 sculptures in 35 years, which is like two to three a week. She was a workaholic, but working made her happy.”

“If people come because of Niki, hopefully they’ll fall in love with the garden,” Kerkemeyer said. “If they haven’t been here before, they’ll want to come back.”