Morning’s Glory, 2012
Proposal for Wheaton College courtyard outside Science Center.
Surrounded by the stairway and balcony above and the windows of the cafè below, the courtyard site for Morning’s Glory is at the heart of the approach to the Science Center at its lower level. The artwork creates a natural gathering place where people can sit in the shade of the canopy to read, visit or wait for a friend. From the balcony above, the full structure is visible as well as its colored projection onto the paving. It sits like a jewel reflecting and projecting color and life into the space.
The form of Morning’s Glory is a cross between nature’s growth forms and human built architecture. Fractal patterns are suggested in the structure of the glass of the canopy. It is at once like a tree whose trunk rises up with the roots planted in the earth and a flower with a flute shaped bell whose petals are lifted by a breeze. The artwork refers to the study of structures in nature, physics and mathematics as aspects of what the Science Center is about. The sun reveals delicate etchings on the glass of forms normally invisible without a microscope. At night the blue glass canopy is lit from below and luminous color appears to hover in the space.
