Client: Capital One Art Program

Overview

‘Echo Green’ by Patricia Leighton, visually and contextually elevates nature as a symbolic icon.

Three tilted cubes are balanced atop their stainless-steel structures, at varying heights. Each elevated cube gives a visual sense of precariousness akin to nature. In scale and verticality, the three sculptures speak to the surrounding architecture.

Cube#1 – 11.5′ high x 5′ x 5′. Cube#2 – 15′ high x 4.5′ x 4.5′. Cube#3 –  12.8′ high x 5.5′ x 5.5′.

On an intimate level, the living vegetated sculptures, sited at Tysons Sculpture Park, offer the public a sense of place and an ever-changing seasonal experience.
In their location at The Capital One Headquarters Campus, the tactile sustainable sculptures underline our ongoing environmental concerns. The continuously regenerating sculptures create a tactile nurturing space for contemplation. As the public walks through and around the installation their presence instills thoughts of the interdependence of nature and culture.

Goals

The sculpture installation addresses the environment and sustainable goals. My aim from the onset has been to draw people in, to experience the different facets of the sculpture and to take time to contemplate nature in its complexity.
'Echo Green' draws attention to the fragility of nature and provides us thoughtful consideration towards a ‘green’ environment and a balanced future.

Process

My focus is environmental art which surrounds and includes the viewer. I invite people into the artwork’s presence, to experience ‘nature’ in a familiar yet unfamiliar way.
Project concepts begin with the land, and what is appropriate to place.
The site-specific sculpture, Echo Green, was conceived and scaled with regard to its environment, the surrounding architecture, and the public usage of the park. The sculpture offers the employees at Capital One, and the public at large, an ever-changing experience of seasonal growth and color within this intimate space.
The elevated living sculptures are planted with succulents, such as sedum, which are drought resistant and withstand harsh conditions. Numerous varieties of these cultivars exist; low growing, flowering, and creeping, that once established, require minimal care.
In this urban setting nature flourishes. The artwork provides the community with constantly changing vegetation, growth and texture, while addressing mitigation.
In public art, working together as a collaborative team is at the core of successful projects. Echo Green is a living sculpture. My appreciation goes to all of the team involved here, on each facet of the sculpture’s development and its maintenance.