Unification and Inclusion

From South Park Magazine: You’ll know you’ve arrived when you spot the three-story glass façade and the enormous blue cut- and chiseled glass orb on the plaza in front of the museum entrance on Pack Square. New York-based sculptor Henry Richardson’s “Reflections on Unity” weighs about 4,500 pounds and sits atop an 8-ton boulder from a local quarry.

“The concept is unification of the community and inclusion for people coming to the museum,” Richardson said at the November opening. “It becomes a beacon essentially, to pull people in from the community and through the doors into the museum.”

Read the complete article here.

Artsy: A Place of Renewal

From Artsy: “In step with Asheville as a place of renewal, the Asheville Art Museum has installed artist Henry Richardson’s Reflections on Unity (2016) on a locally quarried boulder in its entry plaza. The 5,000-pound orb is comprised of thousands of pieces of cut and chiseled glass, and positioned directly across from a granite obelisk built in 1897 to honor Zebulon B. Vance, a former Confederate colonel, U.S. senator, and North Carolina governor. Light emanates from Richardson’s composition, metaphorically suggesting an ongoing and indefinite exchange between the museum and Asheville’s history.”

Read the complete article here.

The orb and the monument: how can art address the history of place?

The orb and the monument: how can art address the history of place?