Buttons: Giants

When I was making my weekly mosaic for ArtMind, I found a picture of a huge red button sculpture. I liked it instantly ! so big and bright ! Did some research into outside button sculptures and found some really great ones. Here they are, starting with the red one from my mosaic.

1. button, button, who's got the button?, 2. Lorrie's BUTTON, 3. grand rapids 1, 4. Lorrie's Button
Hy Zelkowitz
Lorrie's Button, 1976
Painted fiberglass and urethane foam
Ah-Nab-Awen Park, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
A huge red button on a tilted axis. The center of the button is pierced with four large holes. The sculpture was designed for children to climb on and is installed in a playground area of the park.


1. Les oeuvres d'art publiques de la région de Granby et de la Montérégie, 2. MTLskyline on skyscrapercity*forums

Esther Lapointe
Bouton, 1977
Tufo stone and marble
Lorne Park, Saint-Lambert, Quebec, Canada


1. The Button sculpture on the Penn Campus, 2. Button Sculpture 2, 3. Cute as a button, 4. Claes Oldenburg ‘Split Button’, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Claes Oldenberg and Coosje Van Bruggen
Split Button, 1981
cast in reinforced aluminum and painted
Blanche Levy Park, Philadelphia, PA, USA
The Split represents the river Schuylkill; it divides the button into four parts symbolic for Philadelphia’s original city quadrants designed by William Penn in 1683.


1. Downtown (4), 2. Thimble, 3. verabee.com, 4. Thimble & tattoo
Stephen Cruise
Uniform Measure/Stack, 1997
bronze thimble and eight concrete buttons
northwest corner of Richmond Street and Spadina Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
This area used to be the centre of garment factories of Toronto. The statue reflects on the contributions of its workers and on the presence of 'touch' in the making of garments.


1. Art District, 2. Needle and button, 3. Me in the Fashion District, 4. Button Holes
Pentagram Architectural Services
Needle and Button, 1995
Seventh Avenue and 39th Street, New York, NY, USA
The octagonal kiosk, which is the Fashion District Information Center, incorporates the world's largest button leaning against the kiosk, held upright by a long steel needle. The 5 holes are making a stylized F, which is the logo for the fashion district, which you can see on top of the kiosk.


1. alvik on eFoto.lt, 2. SCANDINAVIANS & BALTICS, 3. SCANDINAVIANS & BALTICS, 4. SocialinėMechanika

Vytautas Narutis
Buttons, 2005
Vienybes aikste, Kaunas, Lithuania
The sculptor says: "A button is a symbol that accompanies us from childhood. A button connects two parts of clothes, the destinies of people, two cities (i.e. Vilnius and Kaunas)". (Many thanks to the Lithuanian members of the European Street Team on Etsy for all the information so far !)

Do you know more button statues, memorials or sculptures ???? Please let me know !