Ming Fay / 費明杰

United States Courthouse Plaza
Cast aluminum
27 ft. 6 inches high
2004
Seattle, Washington

"To create Pillar Arc for the courthouse in Seattle, Fay took inspiration from a single scale of a cedar cone. Fay selected the cedar because of its spiritual and historical connections to the Pacific northwest. Some of the largest western red cedars grow on the olympic Peninsula. The tree also has special symbolic meaning and practical uses for the area’s native American communities, who for centuries have used its pliable bark for weaving and its durable wood for building longhouses and canoes. Fay enlarged the cedar-cone scale to the monumental stature of a tree, a transformation that emphasizes, in the artist’s words, “the inherent beauty, nuance, and poetry of the form.” Pillar Arc also possesses an anthropomorphic quality; its upright posture and elegant curves suggests a human figure. The well-balanced sculpture embodies the function of the courthouse metaphorically. " W.C.

Photo courtesy of the General Services Administration