Perpetual Illumination
Stainless steel, dichrolaminate acrylic, masonry
H 11' x L 9' x W 6'
2016 Northeast Medical University
Touring Northeast Ohio Medical University, we were struck by the School’s weaving of the Community and the STEM high school into the campus fabric. This engagement of young learners and community inclusion has inspired our proposal - Perpetual Illumination. The sculpture speaks visually and metaphorically about people joined together, teaching and learning from one another to create a dynamic enlightened community. Perpetual Illumination symbolize the enlightenment that Northeast Ohio Medical University brings to the students and communities it serves. Like NEOMED, Perpetual Illumination continuously interacts with students, community and the environment. The forty-year history of NEOMED has been a success story based on the University’s focus on its mission of education, research and service. The University has collaborated with the clinical, educational and research partners to change the lives of individuals and to improve the quality of health care in the region and beyond and has extended knowledge though its research.
Perpetual Illumination symbolizes both collaborative and individual effort in the attainment of ideals and concrete goals. The female and male figures represent both the individual and the collaborative partners. The flame they both support, and are enlightened by, represents the knowledge gained through education and research. It represent personal and community growth and the attainment of ideals and mission. The figures reach and look upward, symbolic of the dynamic of movement into the future and of lifelong learning and striving.
The flame form is made of safety glass panels laminated with a dichroic film that transmits and reflects every color in the visible spectrum, varying with the position of the light source and the observer. The flame is mounted on a concrete base containing projectors. As viewers pass the sculpture, they will enjoy an infinite interplay of lights and colorful reflections.
The dichroic glass form, continuously interacting with the viewer and environment, symbolize change - it’s multifaceted colors represent diversity and change.
