Feature Details

Name: Cambrian BeeLine

Description: This 80' artwork elegantly details the staircase and second floor balcony of this library. Each of the 21 water-jet cut stainless steel panels is unique with 74 unique cast glass and bronze sculptures, some with gold leaf, mounted along its length. The narrative elements within the length of the artwork are drawn from the natural and social histories of the site. Themes of exploration and discovery are emphasized in a variety of ways, including the creation of a sight line game related to the title of the work. The repeated use of weaving (in representational forms, and in more abstract renderings of roadways and paths) is intended to suggest the complexity and organization of human knowledge. Likewise, the illustration of locally-cultivated fruits in grid patterns refers not only to the agricultural history of orchards near the site, but also to the gathering and categorization of information as it occurs in a library. Pastoral imagery dominates the work, remembering and celebrating ways of life which have largely vanished from the area.