Parhelion

Forged & fabricated steel, 20' x 4' x 5'

Parhelion, “a bright spot in the sky,” references the potential every student possesses. The location I chose is adjacent and above an outdoor terrace where students gather to study or socialize. Its positioning invites the viewer to look up through the piece into the sky. Each commission presents an opportunity to try something new. Sometimes it’s a formal approach to composition; or in this case, I was exploring the possibilities of working with thicker plate steel that would allow for rolled forms that don’t require additional stiffening flanges. This was both an aesthetic variation, and a means of achieving greater efficiency in my building process.

Commissioned by Carbondale Community Arts for Carbondale High School, Carbondale, Illinois (2004)