posted on September 25th, 2010
Ahhh, a modern sculpture with some controversy. “Walking to the Sky” is a stainless steel and resin sculpture by CMU alum Jonathan Borofsky. It was erected in the middle of “the cut” on May 15, 2006 and is one of the most obvious things on CMU’s campus.
Described by the artist as “a portrait of all of humanity rising upward from the earth to the heavens above — striving into the future with strength and determination” and “a symbol for our collective search for wisdom and awakened consciousness”, it just doesn’t live up to its goals for me. It looks like they’re walking up to the end of the pole in order to jump off, which would be a different outlook on humanity. I guess I tend to like sculptures that are either realistic or abstractly symbolic, rather than the realism plus literal symbolism here.
I didn’t get to take any pictures in 2009 when it was partially removed to be strengthened because it had started moving in the wind; I remember riding by on the bus and wondering what was going on.
I was surprised to learn while researching this post that CMU’s Walking to the Sky is a copy. The original is in Texas after a stint in Rockefeller Center, and there is another copy in Seoul. There are also variations with only one person apiece in Kassel, Germany and Strasbourg, France.
Another thing that bothers me about this sculpture is the built-in admirers:
It just seems a bit… cheeky. The 3 life-size figures at the base, staring up at the rest of the sculpture, can easily be mistaken for real people at a distance. It seems like the part of the sculpture on the ground is perpetually playing the prank of staring up at nothing just to see how many people it can get to stare up at nothing with it.
The students at CMU also did not like the sculpture when it was proposed and installed originally– mostly due to the prominent location the sculpture was given with little input from the student body. It also seemed to provoke a lot of negative reactions– from “vaguely phallic” to “it defines us as a leading university that doesn’t believe in physics”. It’s also been the object of at least two temporary “modifications” presumably made by mischievous students.
The trustees and President of the university believed in the positive symbolism of the sculpture and its relevance to CMU’s goals, had a forum with the students about the location, and have honored a distinguished alumnus. Student dislike of the sculpture seems to have died down as new students come in, and Walking to the Sky seems here to stay.
Tags: 2000s, jonathan borofsky, resin, stainless steel
Posted in CMU | No Comments »
posted on March 14th, 2010
Arch's right side
Commissioned by the City of Pittsburgh as part of the
celebration of Pittsburgh’s 250th birthday, “Arch” is a robot made of Pittsburgh’s bridges. It was created by Glenn Kaino, a “
shrewdly nonsensical” artist married to
fashion designer Corey Lynn Calter.
The Transformer-like sculpture is made of steel and fiberglass and stands 20 feet tall looking out over the river at PNC Park.
Installed in August 2008, Arch was slated to remain in his location at the corner of Seventh Street and Fort Duquesne Boulevard for six months. He’s still there, though, I took these pictures of him on March 5, 2010. I haven’t found any information about why he’s still around, but I’m glad. Arch makes me smile every time I go by.
UPDATE SEPT 2011: Arch is gone! He’s in a studio in Ohio being restored since he wasn’t meant to last. Since everyone loves it, though, they’re looking for a new site for him to return to.
BoringPittsburgh.com has the scoop!
I love seeing Pittsburgh’s bridges in a different context– they’re so familiar yet surprising as a robot. He’s got the Smithfield Street Bridge for his right upper arm that evokes muscles, and one of the arch bridges (Birmingham, perhaps?) as his turtle-shell back.
Arch at night
He’s gotten a lot of reactions from locals and tourists alike, which I think is another testament to its success. It’s definitely not a sculpture that just blends into the landscape! It’s also really accessible to a wide range of people– abstract or historical sculpture isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but in my searching of opinions about Arch on blogs, I haven’t found a negative reaction. Sure, auto blog Jalopnik thinks it’s scary, but scary awesome, not scary bad.
It’s been seen as having many interpretations such as a “a bridge to the future, a bridge to the past, or Rick Sebach’s Bridge to Nowhere”. One visitor said it was the most delightful thing in downtown Pittsburgh! I think my favorite reaction to this is from OMGPittsburgh– Arch is a serendipitous reminder “to keep us questioning JUST HOW MUCH we, Pittsburghers, know about this amazing city we call ours”.
Tags: 2000s, fiberglass, glenn kaino, steel
Posted in Cultural District, Downtown | 7 Comments »
posted on October 7th, 2009
I did not recognize George Washington in this bronze sculpture done by James West on Mt. Washington. I suppose I can be forgiven, seeing as how I never met the guy in person. He is also not wearing his iconic powdered wig. The view he and Guyasuta have from up there is amazing; I would even posit the best view that any sculpture in Pittsburgh has (and I swear that I wrote that before finding this PopCityMedia article).
Guyasuta was a leader of the Seneca tribe who has also had a Boy Scout camp and fire department named in his honor. He and GW met in 1770 along the Ohio River and negotiated about trade, that the Seneca wanted, and settlements that violated the Royal Proclamation of 1763 that they didn’t. Washington only wrote in his diary that they parted as friends.
The sculpture was erected in 2006, so Discovering Pittsburgh Sculpture doesn’t have anything to say on it 
I thought I saw Our Boy Mayor Ravenstahl in the accompanying sign, but I couldn’t be quite sure… seeing as how most of it has worn away already. Your city at work, ladies and gentlemen!
The statue was cast at A.R.T. Research Enterprises in Lancaster, PA, which happens to be where I grew up.
I’m really amazed at how quickly the bronze has aged! Take a look at the color of the statue when it was put up in 2006 versus now, just 3 years later:
I’m amused that from the angle that I took the 2009 picture there, it looks like they are kissing. I like that interpretation better than the “mood… of tension and balance” that PopCity sees.
James West is a local developer, which can be somewhat of a dirty word in Pittsburgh, but West seems to be one of the good ones. His efforts fundraising and creating this sculpture and then donating it to the city have helped make this park a beautiful piece of green space on some prime property. He’s also a member of Hiram’s Riders, a Pittsburgh motorcycling club. He has hopes that the symbolism of resolving personal differences will inspire people to do the same, perhaps working on marital differences while watching the sunset and then going to have a nice, expensive dinner at one of the Mt. Washington restaurants. Sounds good to me!
The statue is part of the Mt. Washington Community Development Corporation’s efforts to improve the parks in the area. The materials for the statue cost about $130,000, covered by private donors, while the city donated the land, material for the base and a handicapped-accessible sidewalk.
Tags: 2000s, bronze, james west
Posted in Mt. Washington | 3 Comments »
