I’m thrilled to have been selected to create Branches, for Via Sol, an environmentally innovative mixed-income, mixed-use development by the cutting-edge nonprofit PLACE, currently under construction in St. Louis Park, MN. Adjacent to the new South West Light Transit line and Cedar Lake Regional Trail, Via Sol aspires to be a car-free live/work community that will be powered by a neighborhood-scale food and energy system that unites multiple sustainable energy strategies, including wind, solar, and the creation of renewable energy from organics through the growth of organic produce in on-site greenhouses. 

Branches is inspired by Via Sol’s vision as a living, growing organism that extends out into the greater community. Like its planned urban forest, Branches will evoke both the organic and the urban. Its treelike form will be composed of linear ‘branches’ referencing lines that define the Via Sol site. The sculpture’s color palette will be composed of 12 colors taken from each season. A planting bed at the base of the sculpture will provide an opportunity for rotating, seasonal plantings installed and maintained by the Via Sol community and non-profit growing space.

Branches, public art, St Louis Park