The
Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, Special Needs Building, is the
home of a new sculpture designed and created by artists Geoffrey Lardiere.
The sculpture has bright pink, salmon and gray arches reaching upward; the largest extends 32 feet and reaches 25 feet into the air. Lardiere and his assistant, Bill Selman, received a contract from the state to create the work as part of the art in public places program. He began designing the colorful free-standing sculpture over year ago. Selman, who handles the technical and engineering aspects, began fabricating the piece several months ago. The two work together out of Tallahassee studio.
Lardiere designed the artwork with handicapped children in mind. He wanted the pieces "growing up out of the space and pushing out," and also to express the feeling of "no limits" for children. The three pieces come together "like a family," and he sees the three different sizes as representing father, mother, and child.
Lardiere noted that the pieces can be seen through the window from the road going to the Vilano Bridge and "look really wonderful at night."
He said that this project, in a school that teaches sightless children, was very special to him. Two years ago his 10-year-old daughter, Gia, died in heart surgery. He and his wife agreed to allow her corneas to be donated so someone else might see.
This is the third state art project for Lardiere. The other two are at the Florida A & M School of Architecture and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The art work is the second to be placed in the new Special Needs Building under the state art program. In October a wall sculpture was installed by St. Augustine artist Enzo Torcoletti. A third piece, by Jim Piercey of Orlando, is on exhibit in the music building.
Photos:
Left: Lardiere sculpture - acrylic on laminated wood
Right: Geoffrey Lardiere - left; W.E. Selman - right
This Web Site and its contents (eg. HTML, images, works of art) are all the property of Geoffrey Lardiere and are protected, without limitation, pursuant to U.S. and foreign copyright and trademark laws.
© 2008 Geoffrey Lardiere / Artist's Rights Society (ARS), New York
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