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Site Specific Public Art Inspired by WaterFire

 

Here’s a meta situation for you: the site specific art glass shown above was inspired by the site specific public art shown below. Site specific public art inspired by site specific public art!

 

 

Anyone who lives in Rhode Island, or who has visited our state’s capital in the summertime, will recognize that river blaze as Waterfire, the award-winning installation by Barnaby Evans that has been lighting up downtown Providence for two decades. In 2006, I was asked to create an architectural art glass piece for the GTECH Center, whose building is located right in the path of WaterFire, near Waterplace Park, that would reference or otherwise draw inspiration from this community phenomenon. Needless to say, the holistic sensory experience of WaterFire has plenty of inspiration to offer! Using colors that allude to the glow of the elements, I treated a dead wall in the GTECH building’s elevator corridor, a space visible from the street, so that the art glass could be seen by passers by. At night, illumination of the glass gives the lobby a warm nighttime presence, complementing the surrounding festivities in the summer – and keeping the memory of them alive and well through the winter. (Check out more images of the project here.)

WaterFire is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary, with events scheduled all the way through November. If you’re in the area, check it out while the weather’s still nice – and take a stroll past GTECH while you’re at it!