Botanic Gardens' 'Spring Giant' Sculpture Crosses Artistry, Engineering

The Spring Giant is tons of concrete and steel, and is perhaps the most unusual piece of sculpture in this part of the country.

Meet the Spring Giant. We haven't been able to see it quite so completely before - big head, open mouth with a crawfish for a nose, a big fish on either side of its mouth like a mustache with fins.

"It's an interpretation of a white bass I think," said artist Dan Jennison.

Jennison has been working for about seven months to bring the Spring Giant to life. He began by bending rebar and steel mesh to create a framework for all the concrete.

He said creating the Spring Giant has been a cross between being an artist and an engineer.

“That's the unique thing about this piece that's made it so challenging,” Jennison said. “It's supposed to be one large boulder that was sculpted by someone, or something."

He's got a little bit of work left to do and is getting some extra help from his son, Brandon.

He'll finish the fishes’ tails and the scales he's working on now, then, he'll paint it so it will look like one giant rock.

"The water will come out over the teeth and into the beard," he said. “And flow right off into the drains."

The Spring Giant will double as a water feature - the source for water to feed the stream that will run down through the Children's Garden and eventually into the lake.

The Botanic Garden is open Thursday through Sunday. The Children's garden will open sometime in May.