Interface Installation

Public Art Services April 29, 2021

This past month we completed the installation of Catherine Widgery’s artwork entitled Interface for the Innovation Center at Iowa State University. This site responsive art installation touches two areas of the building with two distinct designs.

Pictured: Renderings of the vestibule design and courtyard design that comprise Interface.

As one enters the building they first encounter the vestibules whose pleated dichroic glass walls break up and reconfigure our surroundings, so we see ourselves in relation to the world around us in a transformed way. Anyone passing through the vestibules is reflected multiple times in shifting fragments, a visually rich and always changing experience.

Pictured: Details of the vestibule design post installation.

The artwork located in the interior courtyard on the second level is a series of suspended ‘floating’ lacy copper screens. The thin copper panels have been cut in a chevron pattern which echos forms found in the buildings facade while referencing the pleated forms of the vestibule artwork. This canopy of suspended panels can be seen from windows above and below and within the courtyard itself.

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Pictured: Detail of the copper panels.

Each panel is embedded with thousands of LED lights linked via computer software to an anemometer mounted to the building’s roof. The anemometer measures wind speed and direction so the lights dim and brighten sequentially in real time in response to the shifting winds.

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Pictured: The suspended courtyard panels illuminated in the evening.

The art embodies the interface of technology at the threshold between the natural and the human built world, reflecting SIC’s wish for innovative technology to be part a of students’ exploration. What brings ‘life’ to the artwork is our capacity to monitor, record and translate information digitally. Technology translates into a visual experience the invisible energies that bring us alive to our environment through art. Interface also offers the possibility of bringing an interactive component into the lives of the students who will be able to ‘hack’ into the program and control the lighting in ways we can’t yet imagine.

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For more fabrication and installation images of this project click here.

Select text from Catherine Widgery and select images courtesy of Elmendorf Geurts.

2018: A Year in Review

Public Art Services January 2, 2019

2018 was a big year for Public Art Services, we wrapped up seven large scale public art installations spread across two countries and seven cities and we began work on several exciting projects to come in 2019. Here’s a look back at 2018 and the artists we were fortunate enough to partner with to help bring their creative visions to life.

Donald Lipski’s SPOT

Photo by George Etheredge for The New York Times

In May of 2018 Donald Lipski’s SPOT, an already iconic 2 1/2 story tall Dalmatian balancing a real Prius taxi cab on its nose, was unveiled at NYU Langone's new Hassenfeld Children's Hospital in New York. Lipski wanted to make something so astounding it would distract even those arriving for the most serious procedures, and so lovable that young patients coming back again and again with chronic conditions would see SPOT as an old friend. "I like to think that the parents, the doctors, the nurses, the staff and the neighbors, will all be smitten by this playful, heroic young dog doing the impossible. Art has actual healing power," says Lipski when describing the 2 1/2 story tall Dalmatian balancing a taxi cab on it's nose. The Hassenfeld family, which started the Hasbro toy company, were major donors for the newly constructed hospital which influenced Lipski's thinking, "I wanted it to be about toys and play in some way."

Catherine Widgery’s Woven Light

In May 2018 Catherine Widgery's Woven Light was inducted into Denver’s Public Art Collection. Located in Northfield's Uplands Park in Stapleton, CO, Woven Light is an outdoor room; you are inside and outside at the same time and the shadows, light and projected color make you more conscious of the sun and the breeze than if you were standing in the open. When seen from the outside, the dichroic glass between the slats reflects the sky and surrounding trees. Inside is like being in a kaleidoscope of moving colored lights on the darkened interior as the sun shifts angles. We can look through the openings or through the glass that changes the color of the landscape like a lens. Endlessly changing patterns of crisscrossing shadows and reflected light within and on the ground dematerialize the structure and make a rich shadow on the ground extending the impact of the art beyond its physical boundaries.

Donald Lipski’s The Canoes

In August of 2018 Donald Lipski unveiled his design for the pedestrian overlook on the new Lesner Bridge in Virginia Beach. It is a freestanding sculpture consisting of a stainless steel catenary arch supporting 10 canoes arranged in a star pattern, with a delicate filigree of cut out patterns. Lipski came up with the canoe design after learning that Adam Keeling, who owned a plantation nearby in the 1600s, and a group of others, dug a trench wide enough for a canoe to cross a sandbar between the Lynnhaven River and the Chesapeake Bay. A storm with high tides widened the ditch that became the Lynnhaven Inlet.

Larry Kirkland’s Grant Street Pier

In September 2018 Larry Kirkland’s Grant Street Pier in Vancouver, WA was opened to the public. Kirkland’s design features a mast intended to mirror a sailboat passing along the Columbia River. The Pedestrian Wharf is suspended over the Columbia as a cable stay structure. Installation is currently underway for Kirkland’s design for the Columbia Basin Water Feature constructed from massive engraved marble blocks and cast bronze detailing. Stay tuned for more details to come in 2019.

Donald Lipski’s The Nest

In November of 2018 we wrapped up not one but two Donald Lipski installations, once of which was The Nest for Calgary’s spectacular new 330,000 sq. ft. Seton Recreational Facility. Donald Lipski created a nine foot diameter acrylic “nest” with three flocks of life-sized hawks, owls and herons flying to it, each bringing a new branch for the nest. The nest was built in Denver, CO and the birds were brilliantly sculpted by Christopher Collins in Pennsylvania. We’ll be sharing more info later in the month in regards to the other Lipski installation we wrapped up this past November.

Matthew Geller’s As Rose As Rain

Photo by Allison Moix of Stellar Propeller Studio — Photo by *Allison Moix of Stellar Propeller Studio*

In November 2018 Matthew Geller’s interactive sculpture As Rose As Rain was unveiled at the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind in Colorado Springs. The circular bench seats up to a dozen people who can rock and sway on the bench that is supported by four large compression springs. The dynamics of compression springs and their uneven spacing means the structure responds differently depending on where one sits and how many people are sitting on the bench. The artwork’s sloped canopy includes nine translucent colored polycarbonate skylights that rock along with the bench. On sunny days, the canopy’s shadow and color projections on the ground move in sync with the bench. The canopy also creates a passive water feature as it collects rainwater (or snow) that drains through a hole and splashes on the ground into a circular gravel-filled drain.

December 2018

In December of 2018 our focused shifted to local, Denver based artists as mural painters began work on two large scale reproductions of works by Denver based painters Daisy Patton and Kevin Sloan for Continuum Partner’s new development at 9th and Colorado. Creative Project Manager, John Grant traveled to Mexico City as part of an upcoming installation with Denver based artist William Matthews and installation wrapped for a new work by Denver based artist David Zimmer which will be unveiled in downtown Denver soon.

Thank you to all of our amazing partners who helped to complete these incredible projects in 2018. We look forward to another amazing year ahead full of new and exciting creative challenges.

The Dedication of 'Woven Light'

Public Art Services May 30, 2018

Last week we gathered with community members and DPS students to celebrate the dedication of Catherine Widgery's newest work of public art, Woven Light, as it was welcomed into the Denver Public Art Collection. Located in Denver's Northfield Community at Uplands Park (5007 Willow Street), this interactive work of art encourages exploration of the structure and how it relates to it's surroundings, specifically the natural light.

Catherine was on hand to talk about her vision for this work, answer questions and sign autographs for the students. Watch the video clip below to see what happens when 30 elementary school students descend on Woven Light.

In the artist's words, "Woven Light is an outdoor room; you are inside and outside at the same time and the shadows, light and projected color make you more conscious of the sun and the breeze than if you were standing in the open."

"When seen from the outside, the dichroic glass between the slats reflects the sky and surrounding trees. Inside is like being in a kaleidoscope of moving colored lights on the darkened interior as the sun shifts angle. We can look through the openings or through the glass that changes the color of the landscape like a lens. Endlessly changing patterns of crisscrossing shadows and reflected light within and on the ground dematerialize the structure and make a rich shadow on the ground extending the impact of the art beyond its physical boundaries."

"Woven Light is a shady refuge from the intensity of the prairie light. The angle of the slats will always cast shadow somewhere in the structure no matter where the sun. Seating along the curved walls inside encourages people to stay and ponder the light and space. Woven Light is a structure through which we discover the beauty that surrounds us: the sky, mountains in the distance, sunlight and leaves on the nearby trees moving in the wind."

Thank you to everyone who made it out in celebration of this stunning work of public art. We look forward to revisiting this work for years to come. If you are in the Denver area make sure to plan a visit.

Closing the Books on 'Woven Light'

Public Art Services March 15, 2018

Installation for Catherine Widgery's 'Woven Light' wrapped up earlier this month. Thanks to the amazing team at JunoWorks and Cody Moore for all their hard work on this project.

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"Woven Light is an outdoor room; you are inside and outside at the same time and the shadows, light and projected color make you more conscious of the sun and the breeze than if you were standing in the open. When seen from the outside, the dichroic glass between the slats reflects the sky and surrounding trees. Inside is like being in a kaleidoscope of moving colored lights on the darkened interior as the sun shifts angle."

denver_woven light_catherine widgery_public art services_j grant projects_9.jpg

"We can look through the openings or through the glass that changes the color of the landscape like a lens. Endlessly changing patterns of crisscrossing shadows and reflected light within and on the ground dematerialize the structure and make a rich shadow on the ground extending the impact of the art beyond its physical boundaries. Woven Light is a shady refuge from the intensity of the prairie light. The angle of the slats will always cast shadow somewhere in the structure no matter where the sun. Seating along the curved walls inside encourages people to stay and ponder the light and space. Woven Light is a structure through which we discover the beauty that surrounds us: the sky, mountains in the distance, sunlight and leaves on the nearby trees moving in the wind." Text from Catherine Widgery: widgery.com