Breath

Hypertufa and live tree, approximately 48”x116”x 120”
Commissioned by Pittsburgh Center for the Arts; to be completed summer of 2005

This is the next step in the evolution of a site-specific sculpture on the grounds of Mellon Park. The project has gone through several metamorphoses since its inception in 1990, and it has allowed me to experiment with new uses of materials and processes. My original thought was to base the piece on humanity’s fragile relationship with the earth. A visual reference was to a prehistoric Celtic stone head whose lips are parted, as if drawing breath. The sculpture is a 16-foot head, rising from the earth like a swimmer coming up for air. This latest phase will require the complete resculpting of the image in a hypertufa material. It will also introduce live matter into the sculpture, which is something that has been intended since the start of the project.