BizART continued from page 20 live and work,” O’Connell said, “we followed advice I’d read in Sculpture magazine and looked at midsize cities with a university, deep intellectual capital, a healthy arts community and critical mass along with affordable commercial real estate prices. Tucson met all those requirements and more.” A steady stream of successful contracts and commission work, particularly over the past few years, created the opportunity for O’Connell to relocate from a cramped industrial location on South Country Club Road to their new location. O’Connell and company have wasted no time taking on larger and more interesting projects like “Wings Over Water” and 44 exhibits for a new science museum in Santa Barbara, the company’s largest commission to date. “We pioneer new ways to inspire wonder and imagination.” Their creations are found in museums, science centers, libraries, hospitals, university campuses, transit stops, art museums, trade shows and public spaces across the globe – including Canada, Norway, Germany, Egypt, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan. Their inventions have delightful, provocative names like “Le Reve de Newton” (Belgium Pass Museum), “Chinook Arc” (City of Calgary), “Small Talk about the Weather” (Oklahoma City Arts District) and “Archimedean Excogitation” (Museum of Science in Boston). “My most ambitious creation has always been a great company – a community really – in which employees work hard on projects they enjoy, supported by each other and the wider community of Tucson,” said O’Connell, a 40-something artist who hopes and dreams this dynamic company outlasts him. Like Chicago’s “Cloud Gate” (also known as “The Bean”) by British sculptor Anish Kapoor and Buenos Aires’ “Floralis Generica” (also known as “The Flower”) by Eduardo Catalano, “Wings Over Water” is designed to give its host city an iconic sense of public place and purpose, one that will be imprinted in hearts, minds and digital memories of visitors and citizens alike. It remains to be seen whether “Wings Over Water” will be adopted by Houstonians as “The WOW.”
Biz 22 BizTucson
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Winter 2017
www.BizTucson.com