Pass Through the Land, 2001
PASS THROUGH THE LAND – Mountainscape and Aspen Towers, stone and stainless steel, 28’ x 300′ x 300’, $525,000
Pass Through the Land is an environmental work that brings the textures, colors and forms of the Colorado mountains to a 300′ circular park forming a modified labyrinth providing seating and a gathering place beneath the trees for those who will be attending stadium events.
As a gateway element at the entrance to the park Aspen Towers has five 28 foot tall towers that suggest a grove of aspen trees. The silhouette of the aspen foliage is created from round stainless discs that tremble in the wind animating the grove with a shimmering light and wind chimes of different tones.
Materials used in urban hardscape are often so uniform in color and texture so I wanted to have materials that recalled the mountains that are not part of the urban experience. I sought out quarries high up in the mountains where stones still retained some of their raw power, selecting those with lichen and other rich signs of their age and origins. I set these out so that one flat surface was always parallel to the ground plane, creating a circular mesa, an ordered form for the rough shapes. Each ring has a different type of stone and where the circles intersect the paths, they are set flush with the concrete.
This project appeared on the cover of Landscape Architecture Magazine and was featured in Public Art Review, Sculpture magazine and Espace
