Description
Living and working in Kansas City provides us with many delightful elements. One of the nicest is the mandate that all public projects devote 1% of their budget to the creation and installation of public art. This provides area artists with many opportunities to submit proposals to enhance the appearance of projects around the City.
The remodeling of the Kansas City Municipal Division of the 16th Judicial Circuit Court presented area artist, Denise DiPiazzo of Redtrike Studios with an opportunity and the inspiration to create a piece she calls, “16 Windows”.
Projects of this type become a true, collaborative effort with all parties involved. Starting the process, SSM worked with the artist on several different levels. First, we want to get a sense of what DiPiazzo wanted to achieve and how she wanted the piece to look when completed. DiPiazzo’s concept consisted of layers of meaning, taking cues from the building’s architectural features, geometries and reflections of the patterns and colors found in the building’s windows.
From her narrative:
“Openings allow for inward contemplation of past history, while angled panels reach outward to the future. With over 200,000 cases annually, a multitude of human interactions from routine to the extraordinary are experienced with in these walls. From paper to punch cards to pixels, this facility processes an astounding amount of records and information.”
Fabricated from 20 ounce copper, “16 Windows” has a graphic layer that features an outline of the building. The second layer of graphics provide a locator map identifying the building within the city’s grid. A third layer of graphic images are rendered in a sepia tone and features historic imagery. The forth layer utilizes full color graphics to bring us to the contemporary period of time.
Combined with laser cut graphic representations of windows, city grids and other elements, DiPiazzo’s sculptural piece leans out, away from the wall, angled such that as one approaches via the lobby’s escalators, you are looking at the piece head on.
Another aspect to the project was working with the fabrication team at Machine Head, who created the support system. They, in turn, worked with the installation crew at DMrtisans to develop a method to easily install their frame work to the textural concrete wall that serves as the back drop for the sculpture.
All of these elements came together to create a sculptural piece designed to engage the public on many different levels, revealing new aspects of the piece with each viewing.
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