An Archeo-astronomical Monument

The Sun Circle is a ceremonial structure in a public park.
In it you can observe the sun’s movement along the horizon over the course of the year.

Eight curving walls create a kiva-like circle  which was inspired by the ruins of Casa Rinconada,  the great kiva at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, an archeoastronomincal monument,.
Six of the walls have small windows oriented to sunrise and sunset at the summer and winter solstices, and the spring and fall equinoxes.

On those occasions, sunlight passes through the window of one wall and dances along a marked path on a facing wall and across the floor of the circle.

Sunrise on the spring equinox    ⇓

When the sun rises on the winter solstice, light pierces through the window in the southeast wall and projects a matching trapezoid of light onto the facing wall.  ⇓

At sunrise and sunset, patches of light follow the tracks marked on the walls and on the floor of the Sun Circle.  (Thanks to Wes Holden for the time-lapse images.)   ⇓

People on the bike path can stop and take a rest.   ⇓

Or have a picnic   ⇓

People can sit   ⇓

or jump   ⇓

or measure the precision of the solar tracking   ⇓

Or drum up the sunrise   ⇓

Or cast shadows on a wall   ⇓

Sun Circle

An Archeoastronomical Monument
Tucson, Arizona
Rillito River Park – between La Canada and La Cholla, at Roller Coaster Wash.

In collaboration with Paul T. Edwards and Susan Holman
and Will Grundy, Planetary Scientist

Medium: Split-face block, flagstone, concrete (smooth and exposed aggregate), sunlight.

Percent for Art Program, Pima County Parks and Recreation
and the Pima County Regional Flood Control District.
1994

Tucson’s name comes from “Cuk Son,” base of a “dark mountain” in the language of the native people, the Tohono O’odham.
But Tucson’s mountains take on many colors with the changing light of day.

Here, two mountain ranges are caught in the brilliant orange, pink and purple tones of Arizona sunsets. A vein of copper runs through them. ⇓

Shadow and light alternate in the “canyon” between the mountains. ⇓

A little girl leaves her handprints on the wall of the “canyon.” ⇓

People who work in the nearby public library, in the shopping center across the street, and in the school down the road, all left their handprints on the walls. ⇓

Many-Color Mountain

“Na:nko Ma:s Du’ag Son” in Tohono O’odham
Tucson, Arizona
NW corner, Ajo Way and Mission Road Intersection

In collaboration with Paul T. Edwards and Susan Holman
Medium: Masonry with an overlay of soil cement, copper, paint
Fabricated by: Cemrock
City of Tucson Department of Transportation.
1994

People everywhere play games. The rules may be different. The materials may be different. But the spirit is the same.

In games the world over, one thing that pops up is balls:
baseballs, basketballs, bowling balls, golf balls, pelota balls, ping pong balls, soccer balls, softballs, tennis balls, volleyballs, Vietnamese Da banh, Chinese Tak kiu. A symbol of playfulness, they roll, they fly, they spin, they bounce! A symbol of unity in diversity.  ⇓

Among the flying baseballs, basketballs, volley balls, there is another ball, the planet Earth, the big ball that flies and spins and makes us spin around. ⇓

And a golf ball becomes the moon in its orbit. ⇓

The recreation center ⇓

The purple fence ⇓

Play ball.
Have a ball.
Be the ball.*

*Chevy Chase in “Caddyshack”

Play Ball

Tucson, Arizona
Kino Community Center
2805 E. Ajo Way

In collaboration with Paul T. Edwards

Medium: Laser-cut steel, paint
Fabricated by Caid Industries

City of Tucson Department of Parks and Recreation.
1996

Clouds and mountains painted on aluminum panels evoke the sky and flight.
 

At one end of the passage, the clouds are relatively high. As people move in the direction of the gates, they rise above the clouds.
Take-off! ⇓

 
Walking away from the gates, people descend through the clouds.
Landing! ⇓

 
Every cloud has a silver lining.
Aluminum is used in the actual “skin” of airplanes. It reminds us of the alchemy of aviation: heavy metal becomes buoyant. ⇓

Silver Linings

Tucson International Airport
Tucson, Arizona

In collaboration with Vytas Sakalas and Paul T. Edwards
Originally installed on the West Concourse. 1996
Moved to the “link” leading to car rentals. 2011
Acrylic on plasma-cut aluminum
Fabricated by Caid industries
Commissioned by Tucson International Airport

Sand Trout are a local legend. The sculptures, two mobiles on either side of the road, are a reminder of the dry river that runs beneath the urban grid. ⇓

Jim Griffith, Southern Arizona Folk Arts: “…. It seems that as the rivers of southern Arizona dried out, the fish slowly adapted to the changing climate, exchanging their gills for lungs and growing their eyes out on stalks. In time they became Sand Trout, swimming around in the sands of the dry rivers, breathing air, and looking for their food over the surface of the wash. They were hard to catch…but once caught…the friction of the sand would have (them) skinned and cooked by the time (they) were landed.” ⇓

Plaques on the bridge identify the imaginary fish as “Salmo harenatus”, sand trout. ⇓

Sand Trout

Tucson, Arizona
Tanque Verde Road at Rose Hill Wash

In collaboration with Paul T. Edwards
Medium: Stainless steel plate, stainless steel rods, turntable, sand-blasted concrete columns
Trout fabricated by: Caid Industries
City of Tucson Department of Transportation.
1997

In our daily life, we turn on the faucet, the shower, the sprinkler.
At the twist of a hand, water comes pouring out!
 
The background for this everyday miracle is a complex system of water treatment and delivery.
This sculpture celebrates that technology. ⇓

 
As people approach the wall, it springs to life. Sensors along the path trigger the showerheads to sprinkle.
The wall represents all the kitchen walls and bathroom walls through which water comes into our homes. ⇓

 
Behind the wall there is a garden. Cacti and pumps grow side by side. Cacti flourish in the desert because they have adapted to the dryness. Their “stems” are thick and store water. Their “leaves” have turned into needles, so they lose less water to the air. ⇓

 
People can flourish in the desert too, if we adapt like cacti, and learn to conserve water.
These water re-cycling technologies are one way for us to adapt.

Water to Water

Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale Water Campus
8787 Hualapai Drive
Scottsdale, Arizona

In collaboration with Paul T. Edwards
1999

Environmental Excellence Awards, 2000
Valley Forward Association and Honeywell, Phoenix

A solar-powered luminaria-

The earth hangs suspended on a wall next to the Music Hall Plaza in Tucson, Arizona. ⇓

The words “earth, earth, earth” run along the equator. ⇓

At night, the letters light up in blue, using the day’s collected solar power. ⇓

One word, “heart”, flashes in red. ⇓

The earth is alive!
It has a beating heart. ⇑

In English, by pure chance, the words “earth” and “heart” converge.
The letter “h” moves from back to front. ⇓

earth/heart

A solar-powered luminaria
Tucson, Arizona

Tucson Convention Center – Music Hall Plaza
Fabricated by Cook and Co. Signmakers

Sponsored by the Sierra Club
as part of Luminarias del Pueblo, a project of the Tucson Pima Arts Council.
2005

In collaboration with and under the auspices of: The Rillito River Project

Seven 8’ weather balloons were released one at a time. They rose and became data points in the sky showing a mirror image of the depth of the water table in Tucson at 10-yr intervals.

It dropped 155 ft. in 70 years!

The Rillito River Project
Ellen Skotheim (Creative director)
John Newman (Technical Director)
And many other people…
Bat performance and Balloon launch: Flam Chen
Narrator: Sean Dupont
Poem: Logan Phillips

Between 2008 and 2012, the Rillito River Project conducted an annual “Bat Night” celebration in the dry riverbed of the Rillito. People gathered in the evening to watch thousands of bats fly out to hunt from under a bridge where they roosted during the day.

The project celebrated the bats. But at the same time it drew the community’s attention
to the problem of the city’s dwindling water supply.

9/9/09

Four monuments stand alongside Catalina Highway as it leads up toward the Santa Catalina mountains.
The mountain range has been named and renamed as different populations came to live in the Tucson valley.
Babad Do’ag – Frog Mountain (Tohono O’odham – Native American) ⇓

Canyon tree frogs in Sabino Canyon look so much like the local granite, it seems as though the rocks have suddenly sprung to life. Perhaps the native people named the mountain range “Frog Mountain” because they were struck by the same idea. ⇓

Santa Catalinas (Spanish) ⇓

Mount Lemmon (Anglo) ⇓

Sky Islands (Contemporary ecologist!) ⇓

Building with rammed earth ⇓

Strata in the Catalina Mountains ⇓

The retaining wall picks up the theme of strata. ⇓

Strata: Gateway to the Catalinas

Tucson, Arizona
Catalina Highway, (Fort Lowell Road to Prince Road)

Mixed Media: Four rammed earth monuments with aluminum frogs and letters
Fabricated by: Schmidt Builders and Caid Industries, Inc.
Pima County Departmentt of Transportation
2005

The park faces the Rillito River, and beyond it, the Catalina Mountains.

The lower range of the Catalinas is made of a beautiful type of rock with black and white stripes. ⇓

Geologists say it was formed 25 million years ago when two types of granite were combined, blended, and “stretched like taffy” during the up-thrust of the mountains. They call it “gneiss”, pronounced “nice.” ⇓

Here it is made into a bench: A Gneiss Bench to Sit On. ⇓

Another gneiss bench.
You can sit on the rocks and look out at the mountains from which they came. ⇓

A gneiss waterfall in Sabino Canyon. ⇓

A Gneiss Bench to Sit On

Tucson, Arizona
Rio Vista Natural Resource Park
Rillito River Park South @ the North end of Tucson Boulevard

Medium: natural rock (Catalina gneiss)
Fabricated by Martin Rockworks

City of Tucson Department of Parks and Recreation
2009