Everything in Aurora Highlands looks big. A yawning sky and oatmeal-colored fields sprawl around the densely arranged, master-planned community, located about 30 minutes southeast of Denver near Buckley Air Force Base.
Flocks of birds take flight over oil wells as construction trucks rumble down long gravel roads. Aircraft crisscross the sky almost constantly, with Denver International Airport about 17 miles to the north. It’s not the first place you’d expect to find millions of dollars in world-class public art.
And yet, says Aurora Highlands co-owner and onsite development director Carla Ferreira, there it is. While Aurora Highlands officially opened in summer 2023, it’s still filling in with new houses, new roads and — as is quickly evident at the 100-acre Hogan Park at Highland Creek — an artwalk loop that will soon offer something to see at every paved turn.
Ferreira traverses the site in a luxury SUV that she requested not be identified, having been keyed in the past, she said. Her Jimmy Choo sunglass, Dolce and Gabbana headband, and custom jewelry belie her rough-and-tumble approach as she navigates steep embankments to offer an up-close look at the artworks.
“They know I’m crazy,” she said as her SUV jumped a curb next a pair of road workers, who barely looked up as she rumbled past.
The pieces are curated around positive, uplifting messages, she said. “The Only Way Out is Through” is a mural painted around a neon sign that covers walls in one of three tunnels in the park, by artists SNYDER and Olivia Steele. In addition to the wall-based murals and graffiti art, there are 20 sculptures — or “vertical-based installations” — planned. Some are new commissions, while others are sourced from the Burning Man festival in Nevada, known for its massive, playful artworks.
The $1 billion Aurora Highlands project has $2 million or so of public art already installed. The works mix local and international artists in an eclectic collection of styles and forms, such as Michael Benisty’s “Broken But Together,” a 25-foot tall, 9,000-pound sculpture that depicts two figures facing each other, with strange chunks missing from their bodies. The polished steel exterior reflects the people and surrounding landscape like a funhouse mirror.
Daniel Popper’s “Umi” is arguably the park’s centerpiece, having gone viral last year on social media and prompting a temporary gravel lot to handle the daily stream of visitors. The chunky concrete sculpture is made to look like twisting wood, with a benevolent Mother Earth figure looking down on visitors. The towering, 15,000-pound “Life Blood” by Hunter Brown anchors a roundabout with a piece sourced from Burning Man, while artists Gillie and Marc’s sculpture of Dr. Justina Ford, Denver’s first Black female doctor, offers a more intimate, historical tribute.
“When approached to contribute to The Aurora Highlands’ art park, I was thrilled to create a piece that can be seen from far and wide,” wrote “Broken But Together” artist Benisty on a website that collects and maps all the pieces (see theaurorahighlands.com/art-in-the-park). Ferriera had custom videos created for the artworks, and plans to launch an upgraded companion app for the 2-mile artwalk.
“The art is all owned and managed by the special improvement districts that are here,” Ferreira said as she shook a can of black spray paint, which she used to fill in the outlines of German artist SYNDER’s graffiti work under a bridge. He’s standing a few feet away, masked, and working on an image of a tiger with his own spray can. “I’ve set it up to make money for the district, with rentals and other ideas, so it’ll be self-sustaining.”
The resources involved are enormous, but Ferreira is unusually hands-on for a CEO. She drives lifts, supervises each installation, and lets visiting artists such as SNYDER live in her house, which is within walking distance from the park. She contributes to the art itself and uses her connections in the art world to source and discover artists.
There are fewer than 5,000 residents living in 1,500 houses there, but Ferreira hopes to see about 50,000 in the community by the time it’s finished. The park is theirs, in a way. But it’s really for anyone.
Hogan Park will only become more important as the population increases, Ferreira said. She has two more developments planned just east of Aurora Highlands, with five new schools to be constructed from to meet that and the surrounding communities’ needs.
“It’s all based around this massive floodwater system,” she said of the park, which along with the artworks is designed to withstand extreme weather and floods. Ferreira said the next major piece to be installed is a 60-foot, silvery version of the Statue of Liberty , thanks to artist Benisty.
“It’s coming together fast,” she said as she looked to the east. “And there’s still another mile to be developed.”
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