''Watertower'' 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 artist Tom Fruin. It is located just south of 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 ...

on top of the seven-story Coakley Brothers Company warehouse in the Walker's Point neighborhood.

Description

''Watertower'' is a sculpture made of multicolored

Plexiglas Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite ...

panels assembled in a frame of welded steel in the form of a

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towers often operate in conju ...

. The sculpture's form references the once-common rooftop water tanks, most of which were removed decades ago. Sunlight illuminates the artwork by day, and interior lights make it highly visible at night. Fruin salvages the Plexiglas used in his sculptures.

Commissioning process

Coakley Brothers CEO Peggy Coakley commissioned the artwork for the rooftop of her family business after viewing a similar work by Fruin during a visit to New York. This is the artist's sixth water tower. The artwork is part of a $6 million renovation of the Coakley warehouse. According to a statement by Coakley, her goal with the commission is that "the public will see the sculpture as a symbol of pride for the city's diverse and vibrant citizens and a symbol of how neighborhoods and cities can be progressive and forward-thinking, while still being true to their roots."

References

External links

Coakley Brothers
{{MilwaukeePublicArt 2017 sculptures Outdoor sculptures in Wisconsin