Client: Cemela Foundation

Location: Greensboro, NC, United States

Completion date: 2016

Artwork budget: $75,000

Project Team

Artist

Crystal Schenk

Crash Studio LLC

Artist

Shelby Davis

Crash Studio LLC

Art Consultant

Barbara Peck

Public Art Consultant, Greensboro, NC

Industry Resource

Bullseye Glass

Overview

This series of sculptures serves as protective bollards for the Municipal plaza. Aesthetically responding to the Brutalist architecture, they also playfully invite people to investigate with their colorful glass, which is lit at night. Each glass interior has a theme capturing the city’s civic pride, identity and diversity.

Goals

Our goal was to make artwork that created a physical barrier to vehicles, yet presented first and foremost as public artwork. We wanted the design to be inviting to investigate closely on foot, yet also be readable at a distance while driving by.

Process

We are a husband and wife team and collaboratively work on all aspects of design, sculpting, and building. We enjoyed working closely with the committee and the Cemela Foundation to develop a theme that celebrated aspects of the Greensboro communities, and used these points of pride as the core of our design.

Additional Information

Small moments in our lives accumulate to create the bigger picture of who we are, as individuals and as a community. Welcoming a new neighbor, an act of kindness towards a stranger, teaching a child to read, learning a new skill—these deeds build pride and make our days worthwhile. Greensboro is built on a shared appreciation for innovation, diversity, education, the outdoors, and their role as the Gate City. These sculptures reflect the moments that, taken together, have created a community and a city to be proud of, and they honor the citizens who cross through the plaza every day.