Sky Lanterns and Wind Choreography

Back in 2005, we wrote about the artist Janet Echelman’s remarkable textile sculpture installed over a small traffic island in Porto, Portugal. Now we’ve received photos of two more public sculptures by Echelman that again create “wind choreography” through colorful netted forms suspended in the air. After the jump, slide shows of her new work for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games and a civic park in Phoenix, Arizona.

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Photo: © Peter Vanderwarker/courtesy Janet Echelman

Completed last July, Water Sky Garden consists of two “sky lanterns” suspended over a water garden alongside the Richmond Olympic Oval in Richmond, British Columbia. The lanterns are made of PTFE fiber hanging from galvanized steel rings. The water garden–which is traversed by a pair of intersecting bridges and a curving red boardwalk–also collects run-off water from the Olympic Oval’s five-acre roof and cleans it through plant life and an aerating system. Click here to launch the slide show.

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Photo: © Will Novak/courtesy Janet Echelman

Her Secret is Patience is a 100-foot-tall net sculpture suspended over the new Phoenix Civic Space park in the city’s downtown. Completed last April, it was inspired by the shadows cast by clouds. The sculpture creates a similar effect during the day; at night it illuminated in blue and magenta. (The title comes from Emerson: “Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience.”) Click here to launch the slide show.

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