March 6, 2009

Crews Set To Install Netting on Civic Space Sculpture

Beginning Monday, March 9, crews will complete the installation of a major work of public art that will be the focal point of the new Downtown Civic Space, now under construction at Taylor Street and Central Avenue.

Designed by American artist Janet Echelman, the iconic artwork is made of flexible netting suspended 38 feet above the ground on a framework of steel rings, cables and poles. The netting is designed to billow and move in the wind. The artwork will rise to an overall height of 100 feet and be about 100 feet wide at the top. Specialized lighting will give the sculpture a landmark presence at night.

During this final phase of installation, crews will attach the sculptural netting to the steel rings. The work is expected to take at least three days, and be completed by the end of the week. The lighting will be added as part of ongoing construction of the park.

Echelman’s vortex-like design for the net was inspired by Arizona’s distinctive monsoon cloud formations, and by saguaro flowers and saguaro boots (which form inside the cactus and are often used as nests by birds). The work was known unofficially as “Skybloom,” but Echelman recently titled it, Her Secret is Patience, from American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote, “Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience."

A union of art and engineering, the sculpture’s unique structure received the Excellence in Structural Engineering Award from the Arizona Structural Engineers Association (ASEA) even before it was erected, in June 2008. The award was given to Tucson-based M3 Engineering and Technology, a member of the sculpture’s design and fabrication team, which is led by CAID Industries, also of Tucson.

The design, fabrication and installation of the $2.5 million project involved a wide range of construction professions, producing about 150 jobs, 110 of them in Arizona.

The Civic Space artwork is Echelman’s first permanent monumental sculpture in the United States. It was commissioned by the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture Public Art Program using the city’s percent-for-art art funds. These funds are part of Phoenix’s capital improvement program. General purpose funding was not used for this project.

The Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, which manages Phoenix Public Art, was established by the Phoenix City Council in 1985 to advance the growth and development of the city’s arts and cultural community.

For more information about the Office of Arts and Culture, visit phoenix.gov/arts.

Media Contacts:

• E-mail
• Print