Downtown Phoenix’s looming blue public art piece ran into another delay Thursday, adding further unintended import to the sculpture’s title, Her Secret Is Patience.
Construction crews spent the first half of Thursday attaching what would have been the final installment of the already delayed Civic Park art installation. After consulting the plans, the designer realized that the flowing, woven netting did not fit and would need to be removed and fixed.
Phoenix Public Art Program Director, Ed Lebow said the structural net of the lower portion of the conically shaped sculpture “clearly doesn’t fit.”
“The lower tip was supposed to tip slightly upward to the southwest,” Lebow said Friday.
Instead of resembling a Saguaro blossom, as intended, passersby described the sculpture as a cornucopia shape.
Construction crews spent Friday removing the netting, which will be returned to Diamond Nets manufacturing in Everson, Wash. The engineers and fabricators will analyze the net and determine what went wrong in the manufacture.
Lebow stressed that the city of Phoenix is committed to getting the art piece finished as quickly as possible, and that the repairs or redesigns necessary will be paid for by Diamond Nets.
Neither Diamond Nets nor artist Janet Echelman could be contacted for comment.
