An A-Peeling Challenge

WEB EXCLUSIVE If your daily afternoon strolls are starting to get a bit repetitive, throw a little excitement into the mix with Raleigh Arts’ Tiny Art Scavenger Hunt at Fred Fletcher Park. Along the park’s walking paths and stashed in its gardens and trees, you’ll find tiny sculptures tucked away, each offering a clue to another piece of art.

Graymon Ward, a teacher’s assistant at Broughton High School, is the artist behind the scavenger hunt. He’s also responsible for the pepperoni pizza sidewalk art at the intersection of Peace and North Salisbury streets in downtown Raleigh. 

Ward responded to Raleigh Arts’ call for artists on Instagram last week and was selected to create the scavenger hunt in order to give kids—and adults—something fun to do outdoors during quarantine. The project is part of SEEK Raleigh, a series of public art installations that engages artists with Raleigh parks. 

Ward worked with the Raleigh arts and parks departments to select a park that would be appropriate for the challenge, with interesting spots to place his sculptures. 

The tiny sculptures follow a banana theme, which Ward chose because his 9-month-old loves bananas.

“As soon as he sees one, his face dances with a giddy smile,” says Ward. “I want people to experience that banana feeling.”

On the scavenger hunt, you’ll find a unicorn with a banana in place of its horn, a gopher guarding a peeled banana and a deconstructed banana echoing the park’s Redbird structure by artist Harry McDaniel, among other banana-themed pieces.

Ward says he hopes the scavenger hunt will give kids of all ages a chance to indulge their senses of wonder.

“Now’s a good time to be more imaginative and creative,” says Ward. “It gives kids a fun distraction from worrying about washing their hands and not seeing their friends anymore, concepts that are difficult for some kids to understand. Being able to have an escape that’s imaginative and fun is good for them.”

Ward says he hopes that the project will help people to appreciate Raleigh’s parks and art even more, and that the world that we phase back into following the coronavirus pandemic will be more creative in general. 

The first clue for the scavenger hunt, posted on Raleigh Arts’ Instagram, is “Park where a feather becomes the arrow’s end, in a Red Bird’s shadow your first clue is penned.”

All sculptures are visible from Fred Fletcher Park’s walking paths.

Tag @raleigh_arts on Instagram when you find the pieces and follow along with the hashtag #TinyArtScavengerChallenge3000.