Larry Kirkland

Imagination Gives Us Wings

Located in the entrance of the Scottsdale Civic Center Library, Imagination Gives Us Wings is comprised of three parts. An oculus in the form of a bird (a swift) is cut into the roof above. As the sun traces across the sky, the shadowed silhouette of the bird moves across the surfaces of the entryway, giving the impression of a bird flying. Below, a 20-foot-long gilded feather is suspended as if it has fallen from the bird’s wing. The feather appears to be floating toward a granite inkwell on the lower level of the library which is inscribed with a line of poetry by Emily Dickinson, “So many possibilities; let imagination give us wings.”

Washington D.C. artist Larry Kirkland has been working in public art for over 40 years. Among his many commissions are artworks installed at Pennsylvania Station in New York, the American Red Cross Headquarters and National Academies of Science in Washington, D.C., Putra World Trade Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan. He received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and has served on the peer review panel for the U.S. General Services Administration’s Design Excellence and the Arts Program.