A Sculpture on Pikes Peak Avenue

Christopher Thomson's Spiral Pajos #5 wins 2nd place Juror Award in its first year at Art on the Streets, Colorado Springs.

Spiral Pajos #5 – Orange, a twelve-foot-tall composition of hand-forged steel, is now standing on Pikes Peak Avenue in downtown Colorado Springs — part of the 28th annual Art on the Streets exhibition. This is the first year Christopher has entered a piece into the show, and the award came as a genuine surprise. The 2026–2027 exhibition drew entries from artists around the world, with a jury panel that included representatives from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a Denver-based muralist and educator, and the gallery director at Cottonwood Center for the Arts. Eight sculptures and four murals were chosen for this year's show.

Nearly Three Decades of Public Art Downtown

Art on the Streets itself has a good story behind it. The program started in the late 1990s, when two downtown businesswomen set out to bring people back to a city center that had lost its footing — the first exhibit placed two dozen sculptures along just two blocks of downtown. It drew enough of a crowd that other business owners began asking for art closer to their own storefronts, and the program grew from there. Nearly three decades later, Michelle Winchell, director of creative economy for Downtown Partnership, told the Colorado Springs Gazette it's been amazing to see the impact of the program over time.

The sculpture is part of Art on the Streets' on-loan purchase program and will remain on display in downtown Colorado Springs through the run of the exhibition, into 2027.

There's something particularly satisfying about a piece like this one. Most of what leaves the studio ends up in a private home or garden — beautiful, but seen by a relative few. This piece stands on a public street corner, encountered daily by people walking to work, out for dinner, or just passing through downtown. It's part of the everyday rhythm of a city and shared with a community.

You can see the full 2026–2027 Art on the Streets exhibition, including Spiral Pajos #5, on the Downtown Colorado Springs website.