Take a virtual of tour of “Water Curia” in this concept video. (Video: Hartman Spiller Architecture Studio) Editor’s note: We originally published the following story with a profile of artist Jordan Weber in 2024. As headlines about water quality continue to flood the news, we’re republishin g an updated version of the story with fresh photos of the work in progress at Water Works Park. By Michael Morain Jordan Weber’s design for a proposed sculpture at Water Works Park takes the form of a circular pavilion, open to the sky. Its walls have boulders at the base, medium rocks in the middle and sand near the top. It’s like “a giant soil sample,” said Graham Gillette, a Des Moines Water Works trustee. The form suggests how the facility filters water for use throughout Central Iowa. “Water Curia” seen from the south (left) and north (right), where a worker sorted rocks by size into different bins. (Photo: Michael Morain) The $2.7 million project’s other source of inspiration was the late Bill Stowe, the water works CEO who championed the fight for clean water until he died in 2019, after a bout with pancreatic cancer. “Bill was a good friend of mine,” Gillette said, “so I want to stick his name on something because it would have made him mad.” “He would have hated that,” agreed Amy Beattie, Stowe’s wife. Instead of creating a big plaque with Stowe’s name — or a statue of his likeness, with his famous white mane — his family and friends decided to honor his legacy by promoting something he cared about: environmental education. They originally considered building an outdoor classroom that included some sort of artistic component. But when they met with former Des Moines Art Center director Jeff Fleming, “he said you have it backwards,” Gillette recalled. “Instead of building a classroom that’s pretty, what you need is an art installation that can function as a classroom.” Fleming introduced the team to Weber, who took to the idea right away. “When you think about environmental justice and environmental apartheid, Iowa is at the epicenter of that,” Weber said, noting the state’s role in the Gulf of Mexico’s “dead zones” caused by agricultural runoff. “Iowa is one of the culprits.” Pollution and climate change tend to disproportionately affect communities of color, Weber said, especially in Midwestern cities where historically Black and brown neighborhoods are relegated to floodplains or areas with fewer trees. Weber likened the proposed pavilion to a small coliseum or a stadium, and he calls it “Water Curia,” borrowing a Latin word for “assembly” or “dialog.” The project team enlisted Drake University’s School of Education to develop on-site signs and an accompanying curriculum to help teach the general public and visiting school groups about water quality and ecology. As Beattie put it, “We want to make sure this is a place that’s used to push forth the ongoing dialogue about water use.” The latest round of that dialogue took place earlier this month, when the Des Moines Art Center hosted a public conversation between Weber and Art Cullen, the newspaper editor from Storm Lake who won Pulitzer Prize for spotlighting Iowa’s water-quality challenges. That was in 2017. The issues are still swirling. As Gillette noted in a recent email, “The completion of ‘Water Curia’ comes at a time when conversations about Iowa’s water resources, conservation and environmental stewardship are becoming increasingly important across the state. Rather than advocating for any single solution, the project seeks to create a welcoming place where people with diverse perspectives can learn from one another and engage in thoughtful dialogue about one of Iowa’s defining natural resources.” Construction crews plan to finish the project this fall. Project organizers are planning a public opening in spring 2027. ...read more read less