''A Beam of Sun to Shake the Sky'' is a

public art Public art is art in any media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and physically acce ...

work by American artist Richard Taylor, located in downtown

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. The sculpture was created for the Central

Milwaukee Public Library Milwaukee Public Library (MPL) is the public library system in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, consisting of a central library and 13 branches, all part of the Milwaukee County Federated Library System. MPL is the largest public library syst ...

as part of the remodeling of the Wells Street entrance.

Description

''A Beam of Sun to Shake the Sky'' consists of two vertically oriented sculptures set upon massive granite pedestals in front of the library's glass facade. The sculptures appear to be made of bright red ribbon-like strips of painted aluminum that snake skyward. The individual strips each contain cut-out letters in a variety of fonts, languages, and cases. The twin forms are more dense at the bottom, and become lighter toward the top. The highest element on each side is a short, curved strip painted in gold leaf. With their wide bases that taper upward, the forms resemble red candles topped by gold flames. The sculptures are lit from below at night.

References

Outdoor sculptures in Milwaukee 2004 sculptures {{Public-art-stub

Description

See also

References