Artist’s fabric could float high above Downtown
Work would be 200 feet long, reach 60 feet high
The Columbus development firm Edwards Cos. is proposing to hang a sculpture nearly 200 feet long over North High and Gay streets Downtown.
The blue-and-red fabric sculpture, by the artist Janet Echelman, would be suspended about 35 feet above ground at its lowest point. Overall, the sculpture, a cloud-like abstraction, would stretch about 180 feet long, 60 feet high and 50 feet across.
Echelman’s sculpture would float above Gay Street, straddling North High Street and anchored by cables.
Echelman’s art has decorated five continents, including the cities of Singapore, Sydney, Shanghai, Santiago,
Beijing, Boston, New York and London, according to her website.
In a January interview with The Dispatch, Edwards Cos. CEO Jeff Edwards suggested the art installation as part of an effort to create an artistic hub around Gay and High streets.
The sculpture would be the latest of several steps the Edwards Cos. has taken to change the intersection of High and Gay. The company redeveloped the former Citizens Bank building on the southwest corner of Gay and High into apartments and retail space, and built the Nicholas apartment and retail building on the west side of High Street north of Gay.
The firm is now redeveloping the former Madison’s department store and White-haines buildings on the east side of High Street north of Gay, with a plan to add a 14-story apartment building in the stretch. Next door, the company plans to open a French bistro restaurant
in the former Brioso Coffee space at the northeast corner of Gay and High streets.
The company’s sculpture installation will be presented to the Downtown Development Commission on Wednesday. jweiker@dispatch.com @Jimweiker