Installation Now Underway Hemphill Connector Public Art Project
March 1,2021
Reposted from the Arts Council of Fort Worth
The public artwork titled, Flight, by artist Dan Corson and commissioned by the City of Fort Worth through the Fort Worth Public Art program, begins installation today in the new Hemphill Connector in downtown Fort Worth. Due to the nature of the installation, the connector, located between W. Lancaster Avenue at Lamar Street and W. Vickery Boulevard at Hemphill Street, will be closed to traffic for a few weeks.
Corson’s design celebrates Fort Worth’s aviation history and links the pattern of migrating birds with those of jets in flight formation. Corson also translates the City’s “Molly” icon into a contemporary expression of pattern and movement to enhance the experience of traveling through the Hemphill Connector.
Dozens of abstract “longhorn/birds” will resemble a flock flying out from underneath the railroad and interstate bridges that span the connector. Each of these identical components is twelve (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 sixty (60) variations of colors and patterns that will slowly shift.
On the Downtown side, a free-standing sculpture will feature twenty-eight (28) “longhorn/birds” supported by five (5) painted steel poles, with the tallest thirty-five (35) feet in height. Another thirty-five (35) “longhorn/birds” will be suspended from the I-30 bridge beams with some emerging out from under the connector toward the Near Southside. KiboWorks, Inc., (http://www.kiboworks.com/) – a longtime collaborator with Dan Corson - is implementing the project
on his behalf and sought out local companies to fabricate and install all of metal components (GST Manufacturing) and to assemble and install the longhorn/bird components (Displays Fine Art Services).