Falls freshening up: Interpretive Center unveils new suspended sculpture

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The Falls of the Ohio State Park showed off its newly revitalized Interpretive Center rotunda Thursday morning with a ribbon cutting. The rotunda is the first component of the Crossroads Campaign for new exhibits at the center. Staff photo by C.E. Branham

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October 14, 2011

Falls freshening up: Interpretive Center unveils new suspended sculpture

By DAVID A. MANN David.Mann@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Fri Oct 14, 2011, 12:16 AM EDT

CLARKSVILLE — Tinted glass sculptures hang above the Falls of the Ohio Interpretive Center’s rotunda. They not only greet visitors walking into the door, but also pull together the state park’s four themes — ancient sea, changing land, converging cultures and the falls of today.

“Those are themes that really find themselves inherent in our story,” said Falls of the Ohio Foundation Director of Advancement Jennifer L. Wilcox.

Officials at the park got a chance to show off the work of art Thursday morning with a ribbon cutting and networking event. The piece is the first wave of a revitalization effort at the center. And Thursday’s event took place right as the fall’s foundation is about halfway through a fundraising effort to pay for even more enhancements.

The sculpture, designed and built by Louisville artist Brook White, features a blazing orange and yellow glass sun, an illuminated glass waterfall as well as a moon suspended above the rotunda floor. Its many pieces reflect aspects of the area’s culture and history.

“It was a little overwhelming,” White said. “This was a great challenge and a really interesting concept.” He said putting together a piece that fit into those four themes “really challenged me to think in different ways.”

White began designing the sculpture at his studio, Flame Run Gallery along East Market Street in Louisville. About mid-summer he moved it to the rotunda and began working there. For about three weeks he and others worked on installing the mobile on the rotunda ceiling. Some of the glass pieces were being made even as it was being hung.

“It was a work in progress until the very end,” he said, noting the challenges of getting the various pieces of it to balance as it was being hung.

“I’m very proud of this place and what we were able to add to it,” White said.

The falls, from the very beginning, has been a leader in public art, said Julie Schweitzer, executive director of the Arts Council of Southern Indiana. Even the building’s design is inspired by the location rather than a standard glass and metal box.

FUNDRAISING

While the rotunda has a whole new look, officials are hoping to revamp other parts of the interpretive center, as well. The foundation is about $3.1 million into a $5.5 million capital campaign called the Crossroads Campaign for New Exhibits.

“We can’t slow down now,” said Dani Cummins, falls foundation executive director. “We have quite a challenge ahead.”

The money will be used to design, fabricate and install new exhibits. The orientation film will be digitally re-mastered and some other infrastructure improvements, such as a reworked entrance, are planned at the facility, as well.

The new exhibits will be fabricated in 2013 and likely unveiled in 2014, Wilcox said. Those wishing to donate to the campaign can log onto fallsoftheohio.org or call 812-283-4999.