Public Art

In Erie, even the sidewalks whisper stories. From the jubilant splash of GoFish! to the airborne mischief of LeapFrog!, our city’s public art invites you to look twice—and then again. These sculptures aren’t just decoration; they’re landmarks of imagination, welded from Erie’s industrial bones and animated by its eccentric soul. Whether tucked beside a bridge or towering over a forgotten lot, each piece hums with history, humor, and the uncanny. This page is your guide to the strange and striking works that dot our landscape—proof that Erie’s weirdness isn’t just in the past. It’s cast in steel, painted bold, and hiding in plain sight.

Decorative sculpture of a fish painted with American flag patterns, displayed outdoors on a concrete base.
Two large fish-shaped sculptures, one white and the other blue, mounted on a brick building exterior next to two windows under a clear blue sky.
Colorful duck-shaped float with the word 'LOVE' written on it, leaning against a wooden fence in a garden.
A large metal fish sculpture with a black and silver body covered in white alphabet letters, situated outdoors on a sidewalk with residential houses in the background.
Outdoor metal fish sculpture with 'SC' letters, near a waterfront with ducks resting on the grass and rocks, trees, and boats in the background under a blue sky.
Colorful fish sculpture with rainbow stripes, large round eye, and open mouth, mounted on a wooden base, outdoors with a tree, parking lot, and building in the background.
A large fish sculpture with decorative writing and images on it, positioned outside a building. An American flag and an image of a blue sailing ship are visible in the background.
Colorful frog sculpture with vibrant designs, outside on a sidewalk with plants and a building in the background.
Colorful painted sculpture of a big blue frog with large eyes, standing outdoors on a pedestal in a park with trees, grass, and a brick building in the background.
Large cartoonish frog statue wearing red shorts and glasses, standing outdoors at an amusement park with people sitting at picnic tables and walking in the background.
Colorful statue of a cartoon frog with large eyes, smiling, and standing on one leg with the other leg bent. The frog is green with blue pants and a yellow glove, facing left, with a large red tongue and a background with purple and blue accents.
Colorful frog-shaped sculpture painted with vibrant blue, yellow, green, red, and purple colors, displayed outdoors near greenery.
Gold frog statue with coins around its base, situated outdoors on a sidewalk with a building, parking lot, and American flag in the background.
Colorful frog statue with painted designs including musical notes, planets, and abstract patterns, positioned outdoors on a concrete base in front of a brick building.
A colorful frog statue wearing blue jeans and a bow, posing cheerfully outside a building on a concrete base.
A colorful frog statue dressed in a blue suit with a yellow bow tie, pointing with one finger, placed on a small platform outside a building with a brick wall and glass window decorated with white paper birds.
A colorful frog statue with a tiger stripe pattern, sitting on a concrete pedestal in an outdoor area, with a hat on its head and a white band on one of its legs.
Green frog sculpture with exaggerated features, standing outdoors on a concrete platform, surrounded by trees and grass, under a clear blue sky.
A bronze statue of a woman with hair pulled back, with her arms crossed over her chest, mouth open, in front of a classical building with large white columns.

Eternal Vigilance

411 State St

Eternal Vigilance is one of Erie’s most haunting landmarks—a bronze sentinel curled in anguish at the foot of the Erie Art Museum, watching and waiting with eyes that never close.

Created in 1978 by Erie-born artist John Silk Deckard, the sculpture captures what he called “a heroic, self-clutching figure”—a moment of tortured humanity frozen in 500 pounds of cast bronze. Deckard, known for exploring themes of alienation, sacrifice, and powerlessness, used the ancient lost-wax casting method to shape this larger-than-life form, with exaggerated hands and feet and a face contorted in silent despair. The result is unsettling yet magnetic: a figure that feels both deeply personal and eerily universal.

Its fetal posture and raw emotion evoke vulnerability, but its scale and permanence suggest something more mythic—a warning, a witness, a relic of inner struggle. For decades, Eternal Vigilance has stood as a kind of spiritual gatekeeper to the museum, iconic in its discomfort and revered by those drawn to Erie’s darker, more introspective corners. It doesn’t just ask to be seen—it demands to be felt.

FRUITS OF LABOR

1305 Holland St

A horse made of scrap metal pulls the weight of the world—literally—at the corner of East 13th and Holland in Erie, where past and present collide in a sculpture that’s as heavy with symbolism as it is with steel.

🐎 “Fruits of Labor,” a towering 10-by-20-foot public artwork, anchors the city’s eastside with a surreal tribute to Erie’s transformation from farmland to factory floor. Created in 2016 by artists Ron Bayuzick, Tom Ferraro, Ed Grout, and students from the Erie County Technical School, the piece features a massive globe being dragged by a horse forged from recycled industrial scrap. It’s the second installment in Erie Arts & Culture’s “Arts and Industry” series, and it stands on the very ground where a factory once churned out bedsprings and rat traps.

The sculpture’s message is layered: a nod to the grit of Erie’s laborers, a meditation on the burden of progress, and a celebration of the city’s industrial roots. The horse—crafted from castoff parts of local manufacturing plants—embodies the muscle behind Erie’s rise, while the globe hints at the global reach of its industry. It’s a piece that doesn’t just sit pretty; it pulls you in, asking you to consider what we’ve built, what we’ve lost, and what we carry forward.

Public art sculpture featuring a stylized globe with North and South America visible, and a large metal horse sculpture made of gears and mechanical parts, both situated on a grassy area.
A metal sculpture of a horse made from scrap metal parts, with a public globe sculpture in the background on a grassy area.
Metal sculpture of a horse made from scrap metal in front of a globe sculpture in an outdoor park.
Outdoor exhibit featuring a metal horse sculpture and a large metal globe with the title 'Fruits of Labor' on a red informational sign in front of the sculptures.

SEEDING COMMUNITY

East 19th and French St

At the corner of East 19th and French, a giant metal seed sprouts from the sidewalk—an industrial bloom born from bicycle parts and community dreams.

🌱 “Seeding Community” is more than a sculpture—it’s a symbol of regeneration, collaboration, and the strange beauty of Erie’s urban landscape. Created in 2021 by artists Fredy Huaman Mallqui, Steve Mik, and Eric Brozell through Erie Arts & Culture’s “Creating with Community” initiative, this 15-foot-wide piece was forged from recycled bike rims, metal posts, and salvaged signage. Perched on a hill frequented by neighbors, basketball players, and passersby, the sculpture invites interaction and interpretation—its form echoing both a literal seed and a figurative call to action.

The artists, each with distinct specialties—sculpture, mural work, and cycling advocacy—joined forces to reimagine the 19th Street corridor as a space where nature and city life intertwine. With help from the Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Network, Bike Erie, and city engineers, the seed was “planted” in its final home, a reclaimed patch of public space that now pulses with creative energy. It’s quirky, quiet, and deeply rooted in Erie’s spirit of transformation—just the kind of oddity Weird Erie loves to celebrate.

A large spherical sculpture made of bicycle wheels and bike parts, mounted on a concrete base outdoors under a blue sky.
Sculpture made of numerous bicycle wheels and metal parts assembled outdoors against a blue sky.
An art installation made of numerous bicycle wheels arranged in a spherical shape with a clear blue sky in the background.
A spherical sculpture made of bicycle wheels and parts, casting shadows on the ground, located outdoors on a grassy area with a metal pole at the center, against a backdrop of trees, power lines, and a building under a clear blue sky.

LINCOLN RECYCLING SCULPTURE

West 16th and Industrial Dr

At the corner of West 16th and Industrial Drive, a retired fire truck has been reborn as Erie’s most eccentric scrapyard sentinel—half emergency vehicle, half industrial folk art fever dream.

🚒 Parked proudly outside Lincoln Recycling, this patchwork beast of rust and whimsy is a rolling collage of metal signs, gears, pipes, and salvaged oddities. Its cab still bears the ghostly lettering of the City of Erie, but the flatbed has gone full steampunk—festooned with bicycle wheels, weight limit warnings, and scrollwork that feels like it was welded by a mad inventor with a poetic streak. It’s part sculpture, part roadside riddle, and all Weird Erie: a tribute to the beauty of reuse, the charm of chaos, and the stories that scrap can tell when given a second life.

Old fire truck painted in red, yellow, green, and blue with various bicycles and metal objects on the back, parked on grass with a tree and blue sky in the background.
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