Janet Echelman was selected to design an iconic sculpture to anchor the new LeBauer City Park in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina. The monumental sculpture is composed of 35 miles of technical fibers crafted into 242,800 knots which gently pulse in breeze, creating an ephemeral presence in the sky above the new city park. The commission was led by a $1-million grant from the Edward M. Armfield, Sr. Foundation, which commissioned The Community Foundation`s Public Art Endowment to manage and execute the project. They searched for an artist to give visual form to the history of Greensboro and the textile tradition of North Carolina, and selected Janet Echelman. “I discovered that Greensboro was nicknamed the ‘Textile Capital of the World` and ‘Gateway City` because six railroad lines intersected there, “ said Echelman, “ so I started tracing the railway lines and marking the historic textile mills that dotted the routes. These routes brought together people from diverse cultures and races, so I wove together lines of brilliant color that meet at the center, and titled it ‘Where We Met`.” The sculpture spans 200 feet between 60-foot-tall masts, each bearing up to 6 tons of force. Echelman recently unveiled designs for the next 15 years of the public artwork, which will begin a multi-year color progression in which the color scheme of the sculptural fiber netting is changed approximately every 5 years with a new color palette. Other elements of the artwork remain constant, including the sculpture`s structural rope system. Echelman hopes this cyclical change of color will energize the relationship of the artwork with Greensboro residents: “Each time the colors change, it`s an invitation to see the familiar in a new light. And over the years, I hope people will look back at the photos they`ve taken and be able to locate memories and phases of their lives by the colors of the sculpture.” Courtesy of Studio Echelman.
