Client: Johns Hopkins Medicine - Suburban Hospital

Location: Bethesda, MD, United States

Completion date: 2020

Project Team

Art Consultant

Artists Circle Fine Art

Artist

Lea de Wit

Overview

Cascade of Tranquility is a hand-blown glass leaves wall sculpture, approximately 28’H x 7’W.

Goals

I was asked by the art consultant, Artists Circle Fine Art, to design a focal art piece for the main lobby wall at the new wing of the Johns Hopkins Medicine's Suburban Hospital in the greater Washington DC area (Bethesda, MD). I designed a serene sculptural composition of cascading leaves with a beautiful color gradation from lime greens to teals to complement the curving lines of the contemporary lobby space. The piece centers around the notion of brining the outside in. It was designed to be uplifting as well as soothing. It was created to take advantage of the the abundant natural light in the space. The art selection committee unanimously selected my design concept.

Process

Having worked with Artists Circle Fine Art in the past, we have developed a great collaborative relationship. Throughout the process, we worked together with the common goal of creating a dynamic art piece that met the client's needs, integrated well into the space for which it was designed, and was installed in the timeframe desired by the client. The piece needed to be created with an aggressive timetable in order to meet the completion date of the space. I worked with Artists Circle to meet this desired timetable. Each leaf sculpture was hand-blown and hot sculpted by the artist. The color transition from vibrant limes to teals was thoughtfully and carefully designed and executed to emphasize the flow of the composition. During the design phase, it was discovered that an HVAC vent was placed in the space that was intended for the artwork. We worked swiftly to determine how this would impact the project, to coordinate design revisions, and approvals in order to maintain the lead time required.