Client: Metro Art

Overview

For the Metro Terminal in El Monte, CA., the busiest bus terminal west of Chicago, artist Donald Lipski created an update on the tradition of a civic clock. The work entitled Time Piece is comprised of three double faced clocks, made for town squares by The Verdin Clock Company of Cincinnati, that are suspended in a web of stainless steel cables. The faces of the synchronized, computer controlled clocks glow at night greeting passengers as they arrive at the station, and the other side features the El Monte City seal, which passengers see as they leave the station. Time Piece measures 30’ x 20’ x 1’ and is constructed of stainless steel catenary arch supporting mixed media civic clocks, each 11’ tall.

Goals

In Lipski’s words, “Besides the utilitarian function of seeing the time, a clock tower establishes a focus, a sense of place. The very idea of a public clock speaks to history, stability, tradition and community.”