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Transforming a Gateway to Indy with Public Art
On December 15, 2009, KIB helped with the first stage of a public art installations at the I-70/Holt Road interchange, completing a transformation of a key gateway into Indy.
Kathryn Armstrong, a graduate student at Herron School of Art and Design through the Basile Center for Art, Design and Public Life, created the piece, which is named going home. Ten of the multicolored art forms were installed on a bone-chilling December morning and eventually, 34 total pieces will live among the green space on both side of the exchange.
Originally, the project called for one piece of art, but Kathryn sensed the space called for multiple pieces.
"Being that space had no experience, I wanted to somehow visually invent a place that would suggest a living environment, while activating the space with color,” said Kathryn.
“Since the work would be competing with fast moving traffic, it was important for me to create an idea of movement without using kinetic techniques. I imagined a work that had no end, no beginning and no center. A work of art that would expand the space and travel with the audience, while invisibly connecting the east and west interchanges. Thirty-four individual forms will mark the site similar to dots on a map. I addressed movement by designing a slanted top to create a tilt and using individual placement to depict a nomadic feeling."
Eli Lilly and Company and KIB partnered with the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) to seek approval from the Federal Highway Department to install the art. The public art installation at I-70 and Holt Road will be the first of its kind in Indiana, and reflects a growing trend nationally.
KIB President David Forsell said improving the I-70 corridor from the airport to downtown has been an aspiration of many community leaders for a long time. “It’s important that the major corridor into our city reinforces a positive image of our community,” he said.
Photos of the art are available (including the image below) via Herron at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/herronschoolofartanddesign/sets/72157622920020778/
Read the news release about the project for more details.
