Client: Houston Downtown Management District
Location: Houston, TX, United States
Completion date: 2016
Artwork budget: $100,000
Project Team
Artist
Nick Moser
Flying Carpet
Artist
Kelly O'Brien
Flying Carpet
Art Consultant
Piper Faust
Weingarten Art Group
Art Consultant
Lea Weingarten
Weingarten Art Group
Client
Lonnie Hoogeboom
Houston Downtown Management District
Overview
Trumpet Flower is a temporary, site-integrated commission for Main Street Square in downtown Houston. The objective is to deliver an unique visual experience with a functional purpose – a shade structure – that draws the attention of viewers and users. The shape is inspired by an inverted trumpet flower and opens down into the area created by the surrounding buildings. The resulting form moves from the tall parking garage wall out into a canopy, resolving into a structural column. Slats of brightly colored recycled wood woven together form the skin of the sculpture, which were painted by the Houston community.
Goals
Trumpet Flower was commissioned as a part of Art Blocks, a temporary art initiative designed to coincide with improvements along Main Street Square. For Houstonians who use light rail, Main Street Square is often the jumping off point for Downtown destinations. Similarly, Houstonians who work Downtown know Main Street Square as a pedestrian plaza, which affords a change of pace and scenery from the office. Thirteen years after its launch, and in advance of high-profile national events taking place in Houston, Main Street Square got a makeover. Landscaping and hardscaping have a new look and a series of temporary art installations pepper the blocks between the 900 and 1100 blocks of Main Street. The key intent of the design was to deliver a unique visual experience that also functioned as a shade structure, and therefore draws viewers and users alike.
Process
Flying Carpet consists of a collaboration between Patrick Renner, Nick Moser and Kelly O’Brien. Patrick Renner is a sculpture artist and Nick Moser works on creative projects for festivals, events, and corporate and private clients, and O’Brien is a mechanical engineer Because Trumpet Flower was built into an existing space, close collaboration with the building owners, the City of Houston, and Houston Downtown Management District was essential to the success of this project.