Her Secret Is Patience
![[bizarre_patience1.jpg]](bizarre_patience1.jpg)
So far, I've resisted adding public artworks to these Bizarre Backroads pages; there's just so much bizarre public art these days, I wouldn't know when to stop! But this particular piece of art has generated so much controversy that I can't resist. The working title was "Sky Bloom," and the shape was said to be inspired by a saguaro cactus flower, the Arizona state flower. But even before it was installed, the design elicited somewhat more derogatory comparisons: ... "a jellyfish" ... "a tornado" ... "a mushroom" ... "a spaceship" ... "a waste of money." Since the tab was $2.4 million, that last comment is understandable. For that price, Phoenix taxpayers got 600 pounds of plastic netting attached to huge steel rings and suspended by cables above a downtown park.
When the netting was finally raised in the spring of 2009, the artist (Janet Echelman) revealed the actual name of the artwork: Her Secret Is Patience. This phrase was taken from an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Leave this military hurry and adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience." Perhaps I didn't have enough patience when I visited in the daytime (see photo above), because my impression was the same as the reviewer who compared it to "a drab, heavy fisherman's dragnet." But the piece must be seen after sunset to be fully appreciated; as twilight falls the netting beautifully transforms, glowing orange and purple (the team colors of the Phoenix Suns) against the dark sky (see photos below).
![[bizarre_patience5846.jpg]](bizarre_patience5846.jpg)
Other views (click to enlage):
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Directions: In the Downtown Civic Space north of Van Buren Street, between Central and 1st Avenues.
Last visited: November 2010.
Standard disclaimer: Sites are described for entertainment purposes only, as they were at the time of my last visit. I can not vouch for the current condition of the site or its accessibility.