Stephen Rolfe Powell - Articles & Reviews

Tuesday November 17, 2009 By David Brock

Making an entrance: Boyle library features one-of-a-kind glass sculpture.

Stephen Rolfe Powell wants time to fly, or rather zip, for those who enter the new Boyle County Public Library.

The world-renowned artist and Centre College professor and his crew are busy hanging 365 bulbs of colorful, hand-blown glass in the library’s rotunda.

The work is called “Time Zippy,” a name that references both the number of individual pieces in the conical suspended installation and the excitement he hopes it will engender among children for years to come.

“I really had children in mind with this and wanted the name to be something playful and uplifting,” Powell said. “My hope is that kids will walk in and say, ‘Wow,’ when they look up.”

The conical sculpture also represents the first time Powell has undertaken a large hanging installation of its kind. He and seven others worked for hundreds of hours making the glass pieces, which are about 10 inches in diameter and weigh five pounds.

Powell said the fact there is one piece for every day of the year was a happy accident of sorts. Powell first worked to perfect the individual shape of the glass pieces, which have a balloon-like shape. Only after creating the pieces and deciding on how far they should hang from each other in rows he discovered that there would have to be 365.

Powell said the overall work resembles one of his well-known sculptures, with individual pieces evoking the beads of color that are ubiquitous in his work.

Each piece hangs from a thin length of aircraft cable, slightly shifting if caught by a gust of air.

Powell said the true character of the installation will remain a mystery until it has “lived” in the rotunda.

“We wanted the thinnest wire possible so they would look like they are floating,” Powell said. “We still don’t know exactly what the dynamics of the natural light will be and there could be some movement once it is up. I hope that they might act like chimes.”

The project began when Powell was approached by library director Karl Benson nearly two years ago about the possibility of hanging his work in the entry.

“We knew the rotunda called for some kind of artwork, but we thought of suspending something because we didn’t want to take up space,” Benson said. “We had obviously seen Steve’s work before and thought it would be perfect. It is very unusual for a library of our size to have a major work like this, so we are very excited.”

Benson did not say the amount that Powell will be paid for the piece, which will be funded by private donations. However, both acknowledged that Powell’s work was among the greatest donations.

“I think Steve was enthusiastic about this being in his town,” Benson said. “This would not be possible without the help of people in the community and certainly not without Steve’s generosity.”