Larry Kirkland

Imagination Gives Us Wings

Located at the entrance of the Scottsdale Civic Center Library, Imagination Gives Us Wings comprises 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.”

Among commissions by artist Larry Kirkland 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.