begun 2006. Steel, titanium, aluminum. Dimensions: 35 × 20 × 10ft.
Cardinalis (Redwing for Wilbur and Orville), 2008
Commissioned for the new Indianapolis International Airport, Cardinalis is a 35-foot-high sculpture that connects several ideas specific to its site. Its sweeping red form evokes Indiana’s state bird, the cardinal, while the sculpture incorporates an actual titanium wing from an F-14 Tomcat. Transforming part of a military aircraft into a work of art allowed me to address flight while paying homage to aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright and, more broadly, to the people whose skill and ingenuity make flight possible. Indianapolis Airport Authority
The dynamically positioned wing, joined to the earth by a sweeping black steel arc, creates an image of lift, movement, and imminent flight. For me, the airport itself is a kind of “middle ground”—a place connecting earth and sky, departure and arrival. The sculpture’s remarkably small point of contact with the ground heightens its sense of precarious balance and upward energy, suggesting both the physical drama and the seeming magic of taking off and landing. Indy Arts
begun 2006. Steel, titanium, aluminum. Dimensions: 35 × 20 × 10ft.
Cardinalis (Redwing for Wilbur and Orville), 2008
Commissioned for the new Indianapolis International Airport, Cardinalis is a 35-foot-high sculpture that connects several ideas specific to its site. Its sweeping red form evokes Indiana’s state bird, the cardinal, while the sculpture incorporates an actual titanium wing from an F-14 Tomcat. Transforming part of a military aircraft into a work of art allowed me to address flight while paying homage to aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright and, more broadly, to the people whose skill and ingenuity make flight possible. Indianapolis Airport Authority
The dynamically positioned wing, joined to the earth by a sweeping black steel arc, creates an image of lift, movement, and imminent flight. For me, the airport itself is a kind of “middle ground”—a place connecting earth and sky, departure and arrival. The sculpture’s remarkably small point of contact with the ground heightens its sense of precarious balance and upward energy, suggesting both the physical drama and the seeming magic of taking off and landing. Indy Arts
Image 1 of 1
