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Description:
The concept is gleaned from the rich history of the Salt River, the
Hayden Ferry and the Hayden Flour Mill. Near the turn of the century
a small tributary ran from the flour mill to the river. The water
course emanated from the run-off associated with the water wheel
that powered the mill. This tributary was replicated as an abstract,
meandering blue paving pattern with an accent of Salt River stones.
As the water course moves toward the space between the phase one and
phase two towers, the soft meandering path becomes an urban canal in
the most abstract sense. The sequence of planters that line the
canal appear to be adding water to the canal. The planters are
sloped toward the canal as if to abstract the desert hillside water
runoff. As the canal moves north, the flow of the canal is
abstractly interrupted by a cast-in-place concrete seat wall with
similar concrete pilasters that give it the appearance of a
buttressed dam. It is this “holding back of the water flow” that
starts a dramatic sequence of programmed water events.
In 1870, Charles Trumbull
Hayden found it necessary to connect to the nearby Phoenix
settlement. This was made possible by Hayden's Ferry - a cable raft
ferry. An abstraction of the spirit of the ferry is integrated into
the water feature in the form of metaphoric boat prows that appear
to come ashore. The prows are sculpted of ground finish aluminum
with expressed rivet connections and elements of framework through
the use of crafted aluminum angles intersected with aluminum plates.
Funding:
This project was funded by the individual developer as a requirement
of Tempe's Art in Private Development Ordinance.
Artist biography:
Brant has
more than 35 years experience in a variety of projects and media
throughout the western United States. He was educated formally in
landscape architecture and trained in a variety of artistic arenas.
For 20 years prior to the formation of the company, IDEA, Brant held
responsible positions with design firms throughout Phoenix and
Southern California and was a founding partner in a major southwest
landscape architecture firm. Brant is responsible for all aspects of
IDEA’s projects, utilizing his award-winning experience landscape
architecture, design and public art.
Artist
statement:
Despite
the continuous change in his artistic style, one common thread
unites each project he undertakes. No matter how small or large the
piece, it must not only “fit” into its environment, but also abide
by the rules of simplicity, wherein each element serves a specific
purpose. Moreover, the piece must contribute to the environment in
which it lives, both by borrowing elements from its surroundings to
create cohesion, and by reflecting a component of the “story” of the
space to synthesize its purpose with its environs. His palette,
therefore, exists only of those materials that are appropriate to
the surrounding environment, and is, thus, ever changing. “The art
is the place and the place is the art,” he said. |
