We are THRILLED to share some installation photos from our recently completed public art project in Alexandria. Our services were enlisted by Gables Residential to commission and install a unique and site-specific sculpture outside of a development at 530 First Street in Alexandria, VA. After vetting dozens of artists, we selected Tom Fruin, who is known for his large-scale public sculptures using salvaged glass and Plexiglas to create odes to local building structures and neighborhood histories. The image below, entitled ‘Watertower’ is one of his iconic artworks, adding a colorful and historically relevant addition to the Brooklyn skyline.
Fruin conducted site surveys and consulted historical documents when creating his design for the Alexandria project. The site is located right next to the Potomac River as it winds its way into DC. To pay homage to the River’s historical significance as a transportation and commerce route, Fruin made the canal structure the integral theme of his design.
Historical reference: stacked stone canal wall from the 1800s.
The vertical structure is an eye-catching piece to be viewed in the round as visitors approach and leave the development while hearkening back to the site’s history.The Plinth sculpture is a distillation of the historic "stone walls" built to shore up the area. The irregular square shapes can be read as stones while the entire structure can be seen as a cross-sectional quarried piece of earth with veins of sediment. Illuminated from within, the glowing structure is a contemporary monument to land on which it sits.
Steel sculpture frame in Fruin’s fabrication studio in Brooklyn.
Panels prior to on-site assembly.
Raising the sculpture on-site with some panels installed.
Inside the sculpture. Interior lighting will cast a gem colored glow across the plaza at night.
