Art that bridges
By COLETTE BANCROFT
Published February 24, 2005
Since Feb. 12, New Yorkers have been agog over The Gates, Christo and Jeanne-Claude's gorgeous orange redefinition of Central Park. With that installation coming down Monday, we wondered what the pair might do in our corner of the planet.
We asked three Tampa Bay area artists - a professional artist with extensive background in community-based projects, a graduate student in the University of South Florida's visual arts program and a high school student in an arts magnet program - to design proposals for our best-known local landmark, the Sunshine Skyway, based on Christo's grand and unusual style.
Here are their visions.
- COLETTE BANCROFT, Times staff writer
MARIA EMILIA, 58, St. Petersburg |
 |
|
|
Professional artist
Her proposal is a curtain of holograms in brilliant colors, filling the space between the Skyway's arch and the bay. "I really like the bridge," she says. "The design is so simple, so elegant. I wasn't about to mess with it."
So, she says, she considered which part of the bridge could be an artistic experience for large numbers of people and decided to focus on the space under it. "It's kind of dull and utilitarian. The light would add a lot of richness. And, in fact, it would be an easy thing to do."
A USF graduate who has worked in many media, Emilia says she shares Christo and Jeanne-Claude's belief that the creation of public art should involve entire communities. "Working with other people whose visions are different from yours, you walk away with a lot more than you came with."
Graduate student, USF visual arts program
|
 |
|
|
As an undergraduate at Delta State University in Mississippi, he led a team of 20 students in constructing a "rolling pathway" of woven willow branches that came out of the woods and through the campus, sometimes underfoot, sometimes running through and even over buildings.
For this project, Blackwell researched the Web site of the Skyway's architects and zeroed in on the concrete dolphins, which are designed to protect the bridge from collisions. "I really liked them. They created a boundary for the bridge."
His proposal multiplies the dolphins, scattering several dozen of them in random patterns and staining the tops the bright green of lily pads to create a context for the soaring arch that links its concrete and steel with the nature surrounding it.
11th grade art student, Blake High School
Although she has wanted to be an artist all her life, she says she's "not really an installation person." But Rupinski says Christo's work was inspiring: "It's really different. And anything that's different is good."
Her proposal includes a giant sun hanging on the bridge's middle span, flanked by cloudlike drapes. All would be made of transparent plastic, the sun boldly colored, the clouds white in daytime and lit for a "surreal sunset look" at night.
Researching the bridge, she found it was designed to be "virtually indestructible. That inspired me to want the sun to be bigger than the clouds and seem unblockable."