Ellen Driscoll ’70’s new permanent art installation Filament/Firmament at the Cambridge Public Library (CPL) will be officially dedicated this month, four months after the opening of the CPL’s stunning new glass-sheathed building.
Ellen Driscoll, currently head of the sculpture department at Rhode Island School of Design, has created numerous public art installations including works at Grand Central Station in New York, the Raleigh Durham Airport’s International Terminal, Smith College and the South Boston Maritime Park. Her work is in the Metropolitan Museum and the Whitney Museum and many private collections. Ms. Driscoll is a longtime resident of Cambridge.
Filament/Firmament is located in the “knuckle,” in the atrium passageway where the CPL’s new modern and original Romanesque (1888) buildings connect. The installation (made of etched glass panels, tensioned cables, and a zinc-coated copper wall with patterned oculi) is intended as a metaphor for women’s relational contributions to civic life and history. Read and listen to the artist explain her design and its intent.
The CPL’s stunning new building, designed by William Rawn Associates, opened in the fall of 2009 after a multi-year, $91-million construction project, and has been hailed as “one of the best recent pieces of architecture in the Boston” by Globe architecture critic Robert Campbell.
The CPL’s main branch is located at 449 Broadway, just outside Harvard Square. Parking is available in the CPL’s new underground garage (free on Sundays).
The CPL is holding a private reception and artist talk by Ms. Driscoll at the dedication on Sunday, March 21 from 6-8 PM. The Library has extended an invitation to members of the Beaver community to attend the event. Space is limited, and RSVP is required.
Beaver alumni: Please e-mail Shira Lewin ’92 (Beaver Director of Alumni Relations) by March 15, if you would like to attend the private reception on the evening of March 21.