Public art in Aurora Highlands

The words “public art” and “planned community” don’t often go well together, but developers are doing their best to bring some beauty and whimsy to a massive new 12,500-unit housing community called Aurora Highlands, located off E-470 about 2 miles north of I-70.

“Life Blood,” a 28-foot-tall, 7,000-pound twisting ribbon sculpture designed by Hunter Brown (and hauled here 1,100 miles from Arkansas on a flatbed truck), is one of many pieces that are being installed along the new 2-mile, 100-acre Hogan Park at Highlands Creek, which plans further call for performance plazas, climbing walls, a zip line and gardens.

Nearby, artist Olivia Steele, who lives in Mexico City and Berlin, has installed traffic-like signs with unexpected daily affirmations like “Love Yourself.”

Development spokesperson Carla Ferreira said the hope is that having strategically placed, original public art throughout the community “will inspire and create the kind of emotional connections that only art can.”