Client: University of Northern Iowa
Location: Cedar Falls, IA, United States
Completion date: 2010
Artwork budget: $80,000
Project Team
Terrazzo fabricator
Jason Zarwell
Wisconsin Terrazzo
UNI Public Art Incubator
Tom Stancliffe
University of Northern Iowa
Overview
The artwork symbolizes the significant social and intellectual evolution that occurs in students during the course of their college education. The artwork enters the building as white on black, blends and switches in the center at the student gathering area, and exits as black on white. It represents the numerous influences that form and change students from the time they enter college to the time they graduate and has become a destination point on campus to show visitors.
Goals
The goal was to create an artwork that would guide students to the elevator and student gathering area.
Process
After I came up with the idea for a floor design that ebbs and flows like a river, the architect told me that she had conceived of the renovation of the atrium as a canyon. It always feels good when my intuition is in harmony with the place.