Hollywood is to film, Loveland is to sculpture.

Loveland, Colorado, often confused with the Loveland Ski Area along I-70, is a small town between Boulder and Fort Collins, roughly an hour north of Denver, known in the art community as the mecca for bronze casting. Artists from all over the world come here to have their sculptures created and cast.

The Benson Sculpture Garden features nearly 200 sculptures sprinkled through out the park’s 10 acres of green space. The garden is free to visit and explore on your own, but if it’s your first time, I would suggest one of the tours. And don’t be afraid to afraid to pose with your favorite pieces or give them a hug because the actual nature of the material and its construction is designed to last and to be touched. 

While Loveland wasn’t always a hub for the arts, you can attribute much of its growing artful community to the establishment of the foundries—where the long and arduous process of turning a sculpture from vision to reality begins—and Loveland is home to three of them.

Art Castings was the foundry to open in 1972 when they began with casting metal parts like bronze propellers. Over the years, this foundry has earned a reputation amongst artists as the place to have your art come to life. Soon to follow, Bronze Services of Loveland opened in 1989, followed by Rocky Mountain Bronze in 1994. With the opening of these foundries, Loveland quickly became a world-renowned art destination for casting bronze sculptures. Take a tour of Art Castings Foundry to see the process of casting bronze sculptures and all that goes into it.

Note: when visiting, there are two sides to the park, divided by W 29th Street.