Panel from the Time & Light Tower
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Time + Light Tower
What is the sculpture about?
A reminder that we are part of a complex universe, the LIGHT + TIME TOWER is about the relationship between the sun and earth.
We seldom think about it, but we are on a planet that is constantly moving. We hurtle through space as we orbit the sun, and mark days by the journey. At the same time, we rotate on a slightly tilted axis (23.5 degrees) which gives us night and day. This relationship between the earth and the sun has been the basis of the artist Dale Eldred's artwork for over 20 years. For those who pass daily as they commute to and from the heart of the city, the tower will act as a subtle reminder of the constant presence of light and time in our world, and of the extraordinary mechanics of the universe - the rotational and orbital relationship of the earth and the sun.
The magnificent color we see on the panels of the LIGHT + TIME TOWER is sunlight that has been broken into the colors of the rainbow.
The 40-foot tall tower is made of galvanized steel that supports 20 panels of clear glass. The rear side of these glass panels is surfaced with a high quality, industrial-grade substance called diffraction grating, which is a surface that has been ruled with 14,500 grooves per inch. These grooves "catch" the light from the sun and literally shatter it into its various wavelengths, much like prisms refract light. As a result, we see the radiant colors of the visible spectrum; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet.
The color is visible on sunny mornings when traveling south into downtown on Capital Boulevard. When traveling north, away from downtown Raleigh, the color is visible on sunny afternoons.
The sculpture is intended for viewers who pass it at 45 miles per hour. The panel surfaces that appear activated at any one time will depend upon the time of day and the direction from which the viewer is approaching. This is because of the rotation of the earth and the angle of the sun. The distance away from the tower at which the viewer will be able to see the color spectrum will change from summer to winter as the sun appears higher or lower in the sky.
Dale Eldred was a renowned sculptor who created public art in cities across America and Europe. He was chairman of the Sculpture Department at the Kansas City Art Institute, one of the leading art schools in the nation.
Dale Eldred died in a freak, second-story fall in his studio in 1993, while trying to save his equipment from the rising water in the summer's unprecedented Midwest floods. He was 59 years old. His wife and collaborator of twelve years, Roberta Lord, completed five public art projects they were working on at the time of his death.
During his career, Eldred won many distinguished awards including those from the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National American Institute of Architects. He received Fellowships from the Guggenheim and MIT and his work is in many museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Chicago Art Institute.
Why is the LIGHT + TIME TOWER sited on Capital Boulevard?
The tower is on Capital Boulevard, one of our major traffic arteries, to celebrate entry into the heart of the City of Raleigh.
In the late 1980s, the citizens of Raleigh embarked on a program to beautify Capital Boulevard. As part of Raleigh's 1992 Bicentennial, improvements such as widening the street, burying utility poles and planting trees along the boulevard were implemented. As part of that plan, Dale Eldred's LIGHT + TIME TOWER was also commissioned.
This sculpture was commissioned under the auspices of the RaleighArts Commission in 1995. It is owned and maintained by the City of Raleigh.
For More Information Contact:
June Guralnick
Arts Commission, Executive Director
City Manager Department
222 West Hargett Street, Room 504
Raleigh, NC 27601
919-890-3610
Carol S. Mallette
Arts Commission, Administrative Assistant
City Manager Department
222 West Hargett Street, Room 504
Raleigh, NC 27601
919-890-3610
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