Art Outside the Frame: Loveland's Incredible Public Art Scene
- Melissa Daluz
- 1 hour ago
- 6 min read
Step outside in Loveland, and you're immediately surrounded by art. It's on the walls of downtown buildings, tucked beside lakes with mountain backdrops, spread across sprawling parks, and painted on fiberglass hearts standing five feet tall. This isn't a city that keeps its art locked up behind gallery walls — it puts it right out on the sidewalk for everyone to enjoy. And with more than $12.5 million worth of public art scattered throughout town, there's a whole lot of sidewalk to cover.
Loveland's deep relationship with art goes back decades and runs deeper than most people realize. The city is home to three internationally recognized bronze foundries as well as a sculpture finishing house — specialized workshops where metal is melted, poured into molds, and transformed into finished pieces. Because of that reputation for craftsmanship, artists from around the world send their work here to be cast. Some of those pieces end up staying right here in Loveland's public spaces, which is part of why the city boasts one of the richest concentrations of public sculpture in the entire United States. The best part? Nearly all of it is free to enjoy.
Whether you're a lifelong local who has walked past the same bronze bear a thousand times or a visitor who just pulled off I-25 for the first time, here's your guide to the public art that makes Loveland unlike anywhere else.
Benson Sculpture Garden
If you only have time for one stop, make it Benson Sculpture Garden. Tucked along the north shore of Lake Loveland at 2908 Aspen Drive, this ten-acre outdoor park is home to 189 works in bronze, stone, wood, and other materials, displayed along winding paths, grassy lawns, and ponds. It's one of the most acclaimed outdoor sculpture parks in the country — and admission is completely free.
The collection is wonderfully eclectic. You'll find a Galapagos tortoise next to an abstract swirl, a rollerskating banana, a giraffe stretching toward the sky. There's something genuinely fun about rounding a corner and encountering something unexpected. Kids love it. Dogs love it. Art lovers who could spend hours reading every placard love it too. Benson manages to be serious and playful at the same time, which is a hard balance to strike.
Benson is also the site of Sculpture in the Park, the largest outdoor juried sculpture show in the country, held each August. If you haven't been lately, it's worth putting a fresh visit on your calendar.
Chapungu Sculpture Park
On the east side of town, next to The Promenade Shops at Centerra, you'll find one of the most unique outdoor art experiences in all of Colorado. Chapungu Sculpture Park (it's pronounced "cha-POON-goo") opened in 2007 and spans 26 acres of natural and landscaped gardens. At its heart are 82 monumental hand-carved stone sculptures created by Zimbabwean artists.
The works draw from Shona culture and tell stories of family, village life, the role of women, the spirit world, and the deep connection between people and the natural world. Walking through Chapungu feels genuinely transportive — the scale of the sculptures, the native plantings, and the sound of birds in the cottonwood trees create an atmosphere that's calm and contemplative in a way that's hard to find in a busy town. Concrete and crushed rock left over from the sculpture-making process were actually used to define the walking trails, which is a lovely detail.
The park is open daily from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and admission is free. It also hosts summer concerts, wine tastings, and special events throughout the year, and the Great Lawn area is available for private events like weddings. Whether you're an art enthusiast or just someone who appreciates a peaceful walk, Chapungu is absolutely worth a visit.
Love Lock Sculptures
Loveland didn't earn the nickname "The Sweetheart City" for nothing. The love lock tradition — attaching a padlock to a public structure as a symbol of lasting love — has become popular worldwide, and Loveland has taken that idea and run with it in a big way.
Two of the largest love lock sculptures in the United States are right here in Loveland, both designed and engineered by local artist Doug Rutledge. The original LOVE sculpture, located near the East Gateway Visitors Center at 5400 Stone Creek Circle, is a 24,000-pound, 10-foot-tall, 30-foot-wide steel structure made up of the four letters L, O, V, and E. The second sculpture is a heart-shaped installation at the southeast corner of Lake Loveland, more than 12 feet tall and 14 feet wide, with stunning Rocky Mountain views as a backdrop. A third, newer sculpture has also been added outside the Loveland Museum at 503 N. Lincoln Avenue downtown.
The tradition is simple: purchase a padlock at the Visitors Center (or bring your own), customize it however you like, attach it to the metal grid on the back of one of the sculptures, and toss the key.
The Visitors Center even offers free engraving tools during business hours. It's part public art installation, part interactive experience, and all Loveland — a perfect expression of the city's identity as a place that takes love seriously.
City with HeART
Speaking of love — keep an eye out as you drive and walk around Loveland for the painted hearts scattered throughout the city as part of the City with HeART program, overseen by the Loveland Chamber of Commerce.
There are 44 of these fiberglass hearts spread around town, each one five feet tall and 4.5 feet wide, each individually sponsored and uniquely designed by a local artist chosen by the sponsor. They're colorful, playful, and very, very Loveland. Some are tucked in front of local businesses, others pop up in unexpected spots around the community.
There's also a built-in scavenger hunt aspect to the whole thing: find all 44 hearts, snap a photo with each one, bring your photos to either Visitors Center location, and you'll receive a souvenir from the City of Loveland. It's a fun way to explore neighborhoods you might not otherwise wander through, and a great activity for families. Pick up a heart map at the Visitors Center to get started.
More Art Around Every Corner
The four destinations above could easily fill a full day, but Loveland's public art scene extends well beyond them.
Foote Lagoon, located in the heart of downtown, is a beloved community gathering spot that doubles as a lovely outdoor art experience. In summer, the lagoon is the setting for live outdoor concerts at its amphitheater. Even in the off-season, the sculpture-lined paths around the water make for a peaceful stroll. It's the kind of spot that locals walk past regularly without fully appreciating what they have — a charming, art-enriched green space right in the middle of the city.
If you're arriving in Loveland from Interstate 25, make your first stop McWhinney-Hahn Sculpture Park at the East Gateway Visitors Center at 5400 Stone Creek Circle. Bronze pieces are placed around a tranquil pond, making it a welcoming and scenic introduction to the city's art culture. While you're there, pick up a public art map from the Visitors Center and you'll have everything you need to navigate the rest of your art day.
And then there are the murals. Downtown Loveland's streets are dotted with more than 20 colorful murals, each with its own style and story. The most impossible-to-miss is the massive mural on the side of the Foundry Parking Garage between North Cleveland Avenue and North Lincoln Avenue on East Second Street. But part of the joy of the mural scene is discovering the smaller ones as you wander — around a corner, above a doorway, on the back wall of a local shop.
Several of the downtown murals were created collaboratively. Each year at the Sweetheart Festival — held the second weekend of February — community members come together to paint sections of a mosaic-style mural, which an artist later assembles and displays in various locations downtown. It's a reminder that Loveland's art scene isn't just something to look at; it's something people here actively participate in and create together.
Loveland has built something genuinely rare: a public art collection that feels lived-in, loved, and entirely authentic to the community it serves. It's not a collection assembled to impress visitors (though it certainly does that). It's art that locals pass on their morning runs, stop to photograph with their kids, and lock their love onto with hundreds of other couples. It's art that grew here with craft and care and a whole lot of heart.
Pick up a free public art map at the Loveland Visitors Center, located at 5400 Stone Creek Circle (Monday–Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) or at the Loveland Museum downtown at 503 N. Lincoln Ave.
