Name/Title
A Beam of Sun to Shake the SkyContext
From the artist:
"I like to think that the pieces give a sense of ascendancy, both in a visual and a metaphorical sense…I see the library as an opportunity for all of us to partake in the knowledge base of cultures accumulated for centuries, and I see these sculptures as guardians of and witnesses to this knowledge within the library…
Music and poetry often find their way into the inspiration of my pieces. [The] title is a borrowing from works of Mary Oliver and Pablo Neruda, two of my favorite poets. The gold arc atop each sculpture is a reference to the sun and to the light it provides us. Light is, of course, a metaphor for knowledge, and our library is a primary source of knowledge and spiritual rejuvenation. It is an active place, and therefore these beams of light do more than pass through the sky; they shake the sky in the way we should be shaken by what we can absorb in the act of reading.
The sculptures are intended to have a sense of rising, of aspiring to greater heights. The letters of our Greco-Roman alphabet within the artwork hint at the dizzying possibilities of letter combinations which form words, which in turn form books. Other letters found are from the Greek, Phoenician, and Ojibwe alphabets. Symbols from Egyptian hieroglyphs and African Adinkra cloth are also used, as is the ampersand (@) from our present-day electronic language of the internet.
References to the other alphabets and symbols follow:
African Adinkra Cloth: confidence, strength; alertness, praise
Phoenician Alphabet: hand, window
Ojibwe Syllabic Writing: 'j,' 'ch' sounds; 'w' sound
Greek Alphabet: Sigma; pi
Egyptian Hieroglyphs: 'ah,' vulture; 'k' basket; 'n' water
Internet Symbology: @ at, ampersand"Collection
Artwork Collection, Wisconsin Art CollectionAcquisition
Accession
2004.2Source or Donor
Richard TaylorAcquisition Method
PurchaseDimensions
Height
14 ftWidth
4 ftDepth
7 ft