Client: Chicago Premier Outlets
Location: Aurora, IL, United States
Completion date: 2015
Artwork budget: $25,000
Project Team
Art Consultant
Debbie Fredette
The Art Company
Fabricator
Mark Bailey
Metal Specialties
Project Coordinator
Mark Studtmann
Chicago Premium Outlets
Overview
TheArtCompany.net contacted me about putting a version of my LEAVES OF GRASS in the expanded Chicago Premier Outlet Mall. We worked out the design which was approved by the architects: Ten steel “Blades of Grass” with a full twist, painted with automotive paints standing 8’Hx27’W in a concrete planter 10’x27′ at the intersection of two pedestrian walkways.
Goals
The client wanted a bright colored, human scaled work that required little to no maintenance. The sculpture needed to break up the expansive concrete areas between shops. LEAVES OF GRASS is large enough with 10 different blades of grass, brightly painted in shiny automotive paints, the twists give each blade of grass a feeling of movement and each can actually move slightly in the wind. Chicago Premier Outlets wanted to plant flowers around it to add an element that changes with the seasons for their frequent visitors.
Process
I worked directly with the art consultant who gave me the schematic drawings of the area. I presented my design. They wanted a planter and we agreed on the number and height of the blades of grass. It was a back and forth with drawings by email until the Chicago Outlet Mall agreed on the final proposal. I had the pieces fabricated, painted and shipped. The mall expansion contractors attached each "blade of grass" to the bottom of the concrete planter.