"Una Voce" by Phillip K. Smith, III

Una Voce - Indio Teen Center
Phillip just finished this piece for the Indio Teen Center and I wanted to see it first hand. There had been several newspaper articles and public art Google alerts on it, but I needed to see the actual piece. This video was taken with my cell phone, so I apologize for the quality and it's a little shaky, but you can see how impressive the piece is. I think it's a great marriage with the architecture and the materials of the building. The aluminum tubes have LED lighting strips mounted on the outside facing the red lettering that sequences through different colors at night. I'll have to go back to see it sometime soon. One of the electricians that were working on installing the halogen up lighting, mention he had seen it and really liked the effects.
As quoted from Phillip's website, www.theartoffice.com and piece was the first commissioned public art sculpture in the City of Indio. "Una Voce" seeks to give form to the voice, lives, and aspirations of teens. Designed in collaboration with the Youth Advisory Council for the new Indio Teen Center, the youth discussed their desire for a seemingly chaotic form that has a sense of tranquility within. Additionally, they wanted something abstract, spontaneous, and raw with a sense of surprise and discovery. To this end, the 20' high conical form is taken as a pure, geometrical, tranquil form into which graffiti-like words are carved, spelling out words of inspiration and activism, while creating an abstract container for ideas, light, shadow, and color.

Olympic Sculpture Garden - Seattle, WA

I had been waiting months to see the new Olympic Sculpture Garden in Seattle and finally was able to about six months after it opened. I'd been seeing articles in the national journals about it and was so impressed that Seattle and the Seattle Art Museum would take approximately 28 acres of run down post-industrial land and transform it into a jewel for large-scale public art composed of many of the blue chip contemporary artists. People just can't resist knocking on the Richard Serra "Wave" piece as they walk through it, even though, there are signs that say, "please don't touch the sculpture". The vistas are amazing, viewing the individual pieces with the backdrops of the Olympic mountain range to the west and Mt.Rainer to the south.
The video was shot with our long time friends of over 30 yrs., Rick and Maureen Irey, who live close to Seattle. One memorable comment told by Maureen was that younger people don't know what the Claes Oldenburg "Eraser" piece is. It's an icon of a by-gone era, but oh so recognizable to those of us, who used them in school and home.