Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
As did another. And another.
These bronze, round characters have become a staple of Colorado Springs. In July, the Plaza of the Rockies added three Humpty Dumpty sculptures, created by Minneapolis-based artist Kimber Fiebiger. This brings the city’s collection to just under two dozen statues, with the majority downtown.
The three newest eggs are named Eggsplorer, Robin Egg and Free Range Egg — each are their own unique character based on puns.
The Eggsplorer can be found looking through a telescope, dressed in Renaissance garb with scroll in hand, as if ready for his next adventure at sea. As for the Robin Egg, it’s true to its name, dressed as the famous sidekick of Batman, complete with a yellow cape, black eye mask and signature red uniform. The Free Range Egg dons a cowboy hat while strumming a guitar in jeans and boots, with a red bandana around its neck.
One of Kimber Fiebiger’s new bronze Humpty Dumpty statues, Eggsplorer, top, sits on the Plaza of the Rockies south tower. The Minneapolis-based artist has 15 Humpty Dumpty statues located in downtown Colorado Springs. Fiebiger’s three new statues sit on the Plaza of the Rockies’ north and south towers, above.
Fiebiger has been creating these metal eggs for more than 40 years. Her first installation in the Springs was back in 2003, as part of the Arts on the Streets initiative.
“The town is very well known for them,” Fiebiger said. “I’ll go to art shows in Florida and California, and will hear, ‘Oh, you’re the woman who made the eggs in Colorado Springs,’ and I’m like, ‘Yep, that’s me.’ Everybody remembers.”
Two of Kimber Fiebiger’s new bronze Humpty Dumpty statues, Eggsplorer, above, and Free Range Egg, below, sit on the Plaza of the Rockies south tower. The Minneapolis-based artist has 15 Humpty Dumpty statues in downtown Colorado Springs.
Since her first installation in the Springs, the bulk of her sculptures around the area have been purchased by the Norwood Development Group, which has installed the pieces at the Plaza of the Rockies, First and Main Town Center, 333 ECO Apartments and Mae on Cascade, said Tracy Doherty, Norwood’s communications director.
“Everybody can kind of understand the back story based on the nursery rhyme, but her take and storytelling around each one is so unique and creative that we just keep going with it,” Doherty said.
Norwood founder David Jenkins was delighted when he saw the first Humpty Dumpty statue, Doherty said, and after seeing people’s positive reaction to them, the collection just continued to grow.
Three of Kimber Fiebiger’s bronze Humpty Dumpty statues are on the south tower of the Plaza of the Rockies, including Robin’s Egg, above.
“He just got a big kick out of them,” Doherty said. “The truth is, it’s so fun. I mean, I can see out of my window at Plaza of the Rockies people stop and take pictures with the Humpties. There’s a lot of activity. They really garner a lot of attention.”
Fiebiger was inspired to create a Humpty Dumpty character when asked by her son, who was 2-years-old at the time.
“I’ve always ‘cartooned’ people, I love faces and hands,” she said. “I just kept carrying on when I went into college and started sculpting … It’s been an evolution over the years.”
Making the sculptures is about a 15-step process, Fiebiger said. Usually, Fiebiger uses clay and wax molding. But for big projects like the recent installs, she uses large blocks of styrofoam that she carves with a chainsaw, and then sculpts with clay on top. From there, she uses a rubber mold and makes a wax print, which she sends off to be cast at a foundry.
“Making bronze sculptures is a really long, intense process,” she said. “Once it’s casted, I do all my own welding and metal finishing and painting. So it’s very hands on for me.”
Perhaps the most rewarding part for Fiebiger is being able to work as an artist and see how loved her work is. She recalled a time while hiking the Seven Bridges Trail with a friend, who would ask other hikers if they had seen the Humpty Dumpties.
“Everybody knew them, and everybody said really nice things. ‘Oh, we love them. Yes, we know them.’ And that was a really nice experience for me, because I usually dropped them off and go home, but to hang around town for a couple days and feel how loved they are, it was really special,” she said.
