Public Art in Courthouse – “Shoe In”

Shoe In

Is it public art, a handy bench or a giant, twisted stiletto heel? All of the above, says artist Vivian Beer, who designed and built the whimsical sheet metal sculpture that now wraps around the façade of the Hyatt Place Hotel near Courthouse Plaza: “I definitely wanted it to be fun.”

A recent winner on the HGTV show Ellen’s Design Challenge, Beer was renting an apartment in Rosslyn when she got the commission for the installation (title: Dressed Up and Pinned). A New Hampshire native, she had come to the D.C. area as a Smithsonian artist research fellow at the National Air and Space Museum, where she spent two months researching the design history of aeronautics and aerodynamics.

The bench, she says, is “inspired not only by fashion but also by aeronautical design…I wanted to make a bench that looks like it’s taking off.” Stop on by and give it a test drive. www.vivianbeer.com

Source: Arlington Magazine