Congress Square

In 2003, I was invited to create an installation for Congress Square. Three 30-foot light poles rose from the center of the square, their height and placement suggesting a perfect framework for something suspended in space. I imagined strands of Light Forms descending from the poles, each one different in shape and scale. Threaded together with stainless steel cable through their inner tubing, the forms would hang like luminous beads, creating a vertical rhythm of light and shadow.

To realize this vision, I invited my son, Christopher, to work with me. His contribution changed the direction of the work. Until then, all of my Light Forms had been symmetrical. Christopher proposed introducing asymmetry, and from his drawings he developed a complex mathematical formula that determined the precise length and bend of every radiating wire membrane. His calculations allowed each form to hold an elegant imbalance, giving the sculptures a new sense of movement and life.

Together we also created a series of multi-forms—smaller Light Forms nestled within larger ones or gently emerging from them, suggesting growth, transformation, and the relationship between one form and another. In all, we created nineteen Light Forms, suspended in strands across the three poles, each contributing its own presence to the whole.

The installation came together with the help of Kevin Thomas, a City employee who fabricated the custom brackets for the poles and worked alongside us to install the sculpture.

For more than a decade, the Light Forms became part of the life of Congress Square. In 2014, as the park underwent renovation, the installation was removed. Rather than marking an ending, it became the beginning of a new chapter. The Friends of Congress Square Park invited me to reimagine the work using the nine trees surrounding the park. In 2017, the Light Forms were carefully restored with new lighting and installed in Lincoln Park. There they found a new home, suspended among the branches, where they continue to glow like chandeliers in the trees— transformed by a different landscape, yet carrying the same spirit of light, collaboration, and renewal.