Dust Swirls and Cloud Shadows

At night, the artist-designed illumination changes color gradually through the seasons. Inspiration for this piece was drawn from Arizona?EUR??,,????'?????<

 

Janet Echelman?EUR??,,????'?????<

Her Secret is Patience is the new civic icon suspended above the new Phoenix Civic Space, a two-city-block park in the middle of downtown. This $2.5 million netted sculpture makes the invisible patterns of desert wind visible to the human eye. She also celebrates the structure and pace of desert flora, and the local fossil record that shows evidence this site was once an ocean filled with marine life.

''I am moved by the exertion of the Cereus and the Saguaro, a spiny cactus putting down roots in search of water in the desert, her patience in saving up every ounce of energy until, one night, in the middle of the cool darkness, it unfurls one succulent bloom,'' explains Echelman.

During the day, the 100-foot-tall sculpture hovers high above heads, treetops, and buildings, the sculpture creates what the artist calls ''shadow drawings,'' which Echelman says are inspired by Phoenix's cloud shadows.

The large three-dimensional multi-layered form is created by a combination of hand-baiting and machine-loomed knotting, and is the result of a collaborative effort with an international team of award-winning engineers: Buro-Happold Engineers; Peter Heppel Associates; CAID Industries; M3 Engineering; Speranza Architecture; VOX Arts; EDAW. This work redefines the ?EUR??,,????'?????<