Client: Fannie Mae

Overview

The Fannie Mae sculpture project is a sculptural environment that engages visitors as they and experience public space. My sculpture harnesses the energy and verve of the city through strategic placement of seven orbs entitled Music of the Spheres. Dimensions : 10' H X 60' W X 50' D

Goals

Music of the Spheres creates a dynamic functional space. I use disparate materials of concrete, stone, glass and steel to create a meaningful and memorable place. The highly visible Fannie Mae plaza does not have one definitive function, but has a synthesis of functions determined by the people using it. For many commuters, the Fannie Mae plaza is the first place encountered when arriving at Van Ness Metro and the last thing experienced when leaving. Music of the Spheres is a place of recognition encompassing the significance of being both an enlightened beginning and an indelible ending as commuters come and go. The plaza is recognized as a landmark by its distinctive elements that are unique and memorable as components of poetic space.

Process

Music of the Spheres was an extraordinary collaboration between Artist, Engineers, Fannie Mae, Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Van Ness Community Stakeholders. Music of the Spheres also functions as a place of transition embodying the ambiguity of being neither here nor there. It is a transitory space where people are able to move freely circulating without physical obstacle or visual hindrance.

Some visitors come to the plaza as a brief destination to enjoy a cup of coffee, to meet a companion, or wait for a train. Here, Music of the Spheres functions as a place of intermission and provides the comfort of being a temporary haven and spacial oasis. Music of the Spheres at its best functions as a place of pause and contemplation between the cycles of busy urban life and functions as an extraordinary public place that resonates in the hearts and minds of visitors.