Outdoor Sculptures

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Color Walk 2000-2005
Mesa, AZ (permanent)

Handpainted glass with baked-on colored enamels
Railings for two walkways, each 3' 6" high x 80' long

In June 2000, I was hired by the City of Mesa, AZ to design an architecturally integrated sculpture for the new Mesa Arts Center. I completed the final design for my sculpture in 2001. The installation of the piece was coordinated with the completion of the building, which opened to the public in September 2005. "Color Walk" consists of two ribbons of colored glass, each 80' long x 3' 6" high, that are affixed to the railings of the pedestrian walkway on the west facade of the Mesa Arts Center. These brilliantly colored glass panels – in intense blue, orange, gold, and magenta – create a dynamic composition that can be seen from a distance by viewers on the street, and experienced up close by pedestrians moving along the bridge walkways. At night, the panels are illuminated so that they glow and appear to float. More Text

Thunderbird Bridge 1995-2000
Phoenix, AZ (permanent)

Concrete, metal railings, lighting, earth contours, crushed granite, plants
300' x 1000' (size of bridge and surrounding landscape)

In 1995, I was hired by the Phoenix Arts Commission as the artist on a team designing a vehicular bridge on the Squaw Peak Parkway, a new eight lane freeway. The site was Thunderbird Road, located several miles north of downtown Phoenix. My role was to develop a concept to beautify the bridge and mitigate its impact on the neighborhood. I worked with bridge engineers, representatives of the Department of Transportation, and the City of Phoenix. My design includes a flowing shape with serpentine terraced walls, a textured rocklike surface, brightly colored serpentine railings, and a special lighting system. Surrounding the bridge is a landscape of earth mounds, which look like natural hills and are planted with native vegetation. More Text

Public Art Work
Waterwheel 1999-
Phoenix, AZ (unrealized project)

Pink granite, black basalt, water mist, lights
38' diameter x 6' high (height of water mist)

The project creates a sculptural space in harmony with its site, Scatterwash. This dry Arizona riverbed has cycles of water that appear and disappear. Made of natural materials--stone and mist--the sculpture echoes the colors, textures and cycles of the surrounding landscape. Its low form provides a place where people can visit and contemplate the natural beauty of the wash. Like an oasis, it creates a delightful place to pause and cool off, before or after exploring the Scatterwash area. More Text

Meeting Place 1997
Lincoln, MA (permanent)

Stone, earth, grass, plantings
3'6" x 35' diameter

This amphitheater was designed and built in collaboration with ninth grade students during an artist-in-residence. Located on the front lawn of the school, the sculpture creates a meeting place that is public and private--people are visible when standing in the center, but disappear when sitting.

Translucent Fence 1995
Orange, CT (permanent)

Perforated stainless steel
6' x 5' x 36'

Weaving through the trees in front of a house, this sculptural fence provides privacy, while filtering light and allowing a view of the vegetation. It is part of an integrated design for a home, which also includes a mailbox, pathway and patio of stone and metal tiles. The concept is to create harmony between the built forms and the landscape.

Tree/House 1994
Socrates Sculpture Park, NYC

Expanded metal, steel tubing, 4 birch trees
18' x 18' x 18'

Built on-site at Socrates Sculpture Park, this sculpture creates an architectural enclosure in which to view and experience nature. "Tree/House" is a place to dream and imagine, where one can be up in the air at the level of the treetops, viewing the New York skyline from a new perspective.

Translucent Garden 1992
Bunting Institute, Radcliffe College, Cambridge, MA

Perforated steel, perforated aluminum, aluminum bar
Dimensions variable

This "garden" is made of translucent architectural forms in perforated metal that alter as the sun shifts and the grass grows. Over time, some of the sculptures become fuzzy as grass pokes through holes in the perforated metal. This walk-through installation explores relationships between people, nature and the built environment.

Bodyhouse 1991
Bunting Institute, Radcliffe College, Cambridge, MA

Perforated steel, perforated aluminum, aluminum tubing
9' x 3' x 3' (size of individual house unit)

"BodyHouses" are a series of translucent enclosures for one person. Open to the ground and sky, the perforated metal structures explore contrasts of public/private and shelter/vulnerability. The houses make reference to telephone booths, cages, confessionals, dressing rooms, etc.

farmHouse 1990
Sculpture Space, Utica, NY

Perforated steel, steel tubing, hardware
12' x 3' x 21'

Designed and built during a two month residency, this sculpture is based on the rural architecture of upstate New York -- barns, corncribs, silos. Made of perforated metal, the sculpture casts shadows and alters from translucent to opaque as the sun shifts.

Shadow Walk 1984 & 1996
Sennott Park, Cambridge, MA (permanent)

Stainless steel tubing
6' x 5' x 13'6"

This welded stainless steel sculpture has lacy walls based on brick and mortar patterns. As the sun moves throughout the day, it casts changing shadow patterns on the ground. Commissioned by the Cambridge Arts Council in 1984, the piece was first installed in the playground area of a park, then moved to a grassy area along a pathway in 1996.

Facade Piece 1979
Orange, CT

Plywood, 2 x 4's
12' high x 16' long

A plywood facade with four doorways is propped up in the air by vertical wooden supports and braces. The sculpture makes reference to the function of a building, but has only a front--it does not provide enclosure or invite entry.

Ramp Piece 1979
Orange, CT

Plywood, 2 x 4's
8' x 2' x 16'

This sculpture was inspired by a narrow passageway between two buildings. Two parallel plywood walls create an 18" space through which viewers walk on a arced wooden ramp. The piece is somewhat claustrophic and has heightened acoustics due to the closeness of the walls.

Modular Wooden Piece 1979
Branford, CT

Fir 4 x 4's
U-shaped wooden units, each 4" x 40" x 40"

U-shaped wooden units are stacked in various configurations to create a series of different sculptures. Some of the shapes suggest cages or pyramids; others are more fluid, evoking natural forms or twisting figures.

Stairway #3 1979
New Haven, CT

Steel tubing
8' across

This skeletal stairway developed from a small balsa model. The stairway form is "drawn" and twisted to create a zigzagging, three-dimensional line. Placed in various positions in changing sunlight, its form is extended in shadows.

Stairways #1 & 2 1978-79
Branford, CT

Stairway #1: Maple and mahogany, 7' high
Stairway #2: Steel tubing, 4'6" high

"Stairway #1" appears three-dimensional, but is actually a flat "drawing" in wood, using strips of mahogany (which create a dark line) and oak (which create a light line.) In Stairway #2, made of steel, two identical stairway forms are offset and connected with diagonal lines, to create a partially flat, partially three-dimensional image.

Window Piece 1978
Branford, CT

Wood, glass, monofilament
6' x 3' x 20'

Ten window units in diminishing sizes (from 36" to 18" square) are suspended two feet apart at eye level along a twenty foot span. Dramatically illuminated from behind, the sculpture funnels one's view to a distant vanishing point.

Window/Mirror Piece 1978
Branford, CT

Wood, glass, mirror, steel pipe
9' x 4' x 75'

Sited in an open field, this sculpture frames the sky and focuses one's attention on the vastness of the space. Seventy five feet from the front window, there is a small mirrored window which captures sunlight and reflects an image of the front window. When the rear window is viewed through the front window, it appears to pop forward creating a heightened sense of perspective.

Brick Wall 1978
Orange, CT (permanent)

Bricks, window, colored mortar
7'6" x 8" x 7'6"

Built for an arc of grass in the backyard of a home, this brick wall and window frame a view of the woods. Incorporating fragments of decorative tiles from an old industrial building, the sculpture is nostalgic and suggests a ruin. Without accompanying walls, the piece blurs the distinction between inside and outside.

Doors 1976
Kansas City Art Institute, MO

Salvaged doors, 2 x 4's
1st arrangement: 50' diameter; 2nd arrangement: 18' diameter

Two dozen freestanding doors, all of which can open and close, create an environment through which viewers move and interact, inventing imaginary scenarios. The piece was first arranged with space between the doors; later they were moved closer together to create an enclosure of two concentric circles.

Parachute Project 1976
Kansas City Art Institute, MO

Parachutes, rope
60' across

This fabric piece, made by cutting and resewing an army parachute, floats above the rooftops of the central quadrangle at the Kansas City Art Institute. The project, which includes several parachute sculptures designed by a variety of people, was a collaboration between the foundations and sculpture departments.