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Suzanne Swannie & Andrew Terris: Untitled Sculpture

Suzanne Swannie
(b. 1942 Copenhagen, Denmark; lives in Halifax, NS)

&

Andrew Terris
(b. 1943 Albany, NY; lives in Halifax, NS)

Untitled (sculpture commissioned for EMF Library Stairwell) 1992
steel tubing, metal-impregnated polyester
560 x 220 cm
Funded by designated grants from the Sobey Foundation and the Canada Council Art Bank to the University’s Learning and Leading Capital Campaign, 1992
Mount Saint Vincent University Collection
1992.1

This collaborative work was commissioned by the University especially for the library stairwell. In conceiving their sculpture for the E. Margaret Fulton Communications Centre, Swannie and Terris were inspired by the tetrahedral geometry of kites made by communications pioneer Alexander Graham Bell. Terris, a stained glass artist, designed the supporting structure; Swannie, a textile artist, contributed the woven elements.

Andrew Terris says that the sculpture, by playing on the light which dominates this space, will “be constantly changing visually. Even though it looks simple, visually it will be quite complex.” Suzanne Swannie elaborates on the sculpture’s representational elements. “The modular construction evokes a series of ‘stepping stones’, which is representative of education. In following the upward movement of the stairwell, the sculpture implies an upward movement toward greater and greater knowledge.”

The sculpture hangs the height of the stairwell in a high, silo-shaped column of glass and stone. The tubular support complements the stairwell architecture, while the translucent metallic fibre “skin” interacts with the changing daylight.

KB

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