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A longtime and iconic feature of downtown Omaha, Gene Leahy Mall is the most urban of The RiverFront’s three parks, spanning from 13th to 8th streets between Douglas and Farnam streets, with towering buildings on either side. Since its inception as the Central Park Mall in the 1970s, this area has remained rich with Omaha history including the Solo Building archway and beloved slides, both located near 11th and Farnam streets. In the 1990s, Central Park Mall was renamed Gene Leahy Mall after former Omaha Mayor Eugene A. Leahy.
The transformation of Gene Leahy Mall began in 2019, redesigning the entire area and raising the park up to street level, which added over 40,000 square feet of lawn space in the heart of Omaha’s urban core. Along with the preservation of park artifacts, The RiverFront renovations also added a number of new features including a performance pavilion for live music, a sculpture garden filled with interesting works of art, a state-of-the-art playground and a modern dog park.
Centrally located between the historic Old Market and north downtown Omaha, The RiverFront is a short walk from several hotels, conveniently located along the city’s mass transit system and equipped with ride share drop off locations. Metered stalls and parking garages are also in immediate proximity.
Mobile users, click HERE for directions to Gene Leahy Mall at The RiverFront.
Parking and Bike Share Locations
Information for parking options and bike share rentals can be found on the Park Omaha website.
Metro Bus Routes
ORBT and Metro Transit bus routes can be found on the Metro website.
Wind Sculpture
Artist: Yinka Shonibare
The Wind Sculpture expresses the desire of harnessing motion and freezing it in a moment of time. Painted in a Dutch wax batik pattern, the work manifests itself as a large 3D piece of fabric that appears to be captured in a gust of wind.
Standing at about 26 feet tall, the sculpture emerges from a shallow pool of water. During the summer months, the pool is intended as a site where children and families can play and interact. During the winter months, in the absence of water, the granite base will continue to reflect the sculptural form, creating a place of stillness and contemplation for all. The artwork is painted in a bespoke pattern featuring Omaha’s historical narrative in the trademark style of a batik textile.
The vibrancy of the color and pattern not only acts as a visual beacon on The RiverFront, but as a meeting point for families from the local communities to come together and engage with one another.
Helios, 2011
Powder-coated steel, 100″H x 110″W x 56″D
Artist: Linda Fleming
Linda Fleming (born in 1945 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American sculptor and university professor. She currently teaches at the California College of the Arts (CCA). She lives and works in Benicia, California, and maintains studios and homes in the Smoke Creek Desert in Nevada and Libre, Colorado. Fleming is primarily a sculptor, although drawing is an essential component of her work. She works in steel, wood, rubber, felt and paper. Her sculpture can be identified by intricate patterns resembling lace, tendrils of smoke or webs. Her practice, while not site-specific, draws from the desert and mountain environments surrounding her studios. The cyclical migration between these spaces is a catalyst for the development of her work.
Planar and Tubular, 2012-2020
Stainless steel, 160″H x 48″W x 60″D
Artist: Richard Hunt
Richard Hunt (b. 1935, Chicago, Illinois) developed an appreciation of the arts at a young age and gravitated toward drawing, painting and sculpture. He received a B.A.E. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1957 and was the youngest artist to exhibit at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. His work has been exhibited 12 times at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, including a solo retrospective in 1971, when the artist was only 35 years old. With his rich body of work, Hunt has explored many historical and contemporary themes, and his creations reveal the artist’s profound insight into social and political issues. With more than 125 public sculptures, Hunt has established himself as one of the most productive public sculptors in the United States.
Walking Flower Times the Power of Five, 2010
Powder-coated steel, 14’5”H x 14’5”W x 5’5”D
Artist: James Surls
James Surls was born in Terrell, Texas, in 1943. He graduated from Sam Houston State Teachers College in 1966 and from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1968. He taught at Southern Methodist University in Dallas from 1968 to 1976. He then moved to Splendora, Texas with his wife and artist-Charmaine Locke, where he founded the Lawndale Alternative Arts Space at the University of Houston in the late ’70s. Surls currently resides and has his studio in Carbondale, Colorado, where he has lived since 1997. His sculptures, drawings and prints, which reflect his unique sensibility to natural forms, are in major art museums and public and private collections throughout the world.
Love Exists, 2019
5″ steel pipe, steel plate, paint, 112”H x 108”W x 64”D
Artist: John Clement
John Clement’s Sculptures are improbably joyful. Clement transforms utilitarian materials, specifically bent steel and aluminum pipe, into whimsical, gravity-defying forms of both small and monumental scale. Looping, swooping, dashing, dipping, zipping, action verbs are a necessity when attempting to describe his work. Born in Bryn Mawr, PA, in 1969, Clement has lived and worked in Brooklyn, NY, since 1993. His works are installed nationally and internationally throughout North America, East, and Western Europe, Asia, and Australia. From 1994 to 1999, he apprenticed with world-renowned sculptor Mark Di Suvero with whom he maintains a close mentor/student/friend relationship.
Aeolis 7, 2020
Stainless steel 13’H x 65”W x 51“D
Artist: Bruce Beasley
Bruce Beasley (born 1939 in Los Angeles) is an American abstract expressionist sculptor currently living and working in Oakland, California. He attended Dartmouth College from 1957-59 and the University of California, Berkeley, from 1959-62 where he earned his B.A. Beasley ranks among the most productive sculptors of the post- Henry Moore/David Smith generation of abstract sculptors. Today, Beasley is recognized as one of the most noteworthy and innovative sculptors on the American West Coast. His work can be found in the permanent collection of 40 art museums around the world, including Museum of Modern Art in New York City; the Guggenheim Museum, New York City and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
