The City of Fort Worth will formally dedicate a piece of public art this week.
Dan Corson’s "Flight," commissioned by the city through the Fort Worth Public Art program for the Hemphill Connector, will be dedicated at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at WRG, 707 West Vickery Blvd.
Dall Brown
A program will begin at 6 p.m. with city council member Elizabeth Beck and Estrus Tucker, Art Commission chairman, among others taking part.
The artwork, located between West Lancaster Avenue at Lamar Street in downtown, and West Vickery Boulevard at Hemphill Street in the Near Southside, celebrates Fort Worth’s aviation history and links the pattern of migrating birds with those of jets in flight formation.
The artist translated the City of Fort Worth’s “Molly” icon into a contemporary expression of pattern and movement that enhances the experience of traveling through the Hemphill Connector, according to a news release.
Dozens of abstract “longhorn/birds” resemble a flock flying out from underneath the railroad and interstate bridges that span the connector. Each of these identical components is 12 feet long and made of robust, translucent polyethylene with a frosted white finish. From dusk to dawn, they will glow with internal LED lighting which Corson has programmed with 60 variations of colors and patterns that slowly shift.
On the downtown side, the free-standing sculpture features 28 “longhorn/birds” supported by five painted steel poles, with the tallest 35 feet in height. Another 34 “longhorn/birds” are suspended from the Interstate 30 bridge beams with some emerging from under the connector toward the Near Southside.
Corson is an internationally recognized artist whose large-scale immersive installations and public artworks often engage the viewer as co-creators, according to a statement describing his works. Originally trained in theatrical design, Corson’s artworks are infused with drama, passion, and layered meanings.
The event is co-sponsored by Arts Fort Worth, Downtown Fort Worth, Inc., and Near Southside, Inc.