A cast bronze sculpture inspired by the power of Mother Nature was installed at Reston Station Plaza this month.

The piece, “The Force of Nature,” is by artist Lorenzo Quinn and is located on the north side of Wiehle-Reston East Station.

A statement from the artist is below:

“We humans think of ourselves as supreme beings, above all others and in absolute control of our destiny and our surroundings. We live with a false sense of security only to be awakened by Mother Nature’s fury, almost as if she needs to remind us of her presence and our responsibility towards her child (The Earth).

After having seen the ravaged coast of Thailand and the Hurricane that affected the Southern States I decided to create a sculpture dedicated to Mother Nature. This would be reminiscent of the early statues made as peace offerings to the Gods in the hope of quenching their anger.  

In essence, people are not very different today from the people who lived thousands of years ago. We still devote ourselves to symbols in order to escape our destiny.”

Photos via Public Art Reston

A spiraling tower of glass created by American glass artist Danny Lane is under construction next to the newly-opened Signature, Boston Properties’ 508-unit apartment building.

The artwork consists of stacked, iron glass on a granite plinth that can also be used as seating. The twisting form is placed at the center of the convergence point between three pedestrian paths.

The art piece is the “focal point” within Signature Park, which contains widened bike path, a play area for children and stairs leading to town center, according to Richard Ellis, Boston Properties’ vice president of development.

The site is under construction as work on landscaping continues, according Anne Delaney, executive director of Public Art Reston.

Here’s more about the piece and the artist from Public Art Reston:

The goal of the artwork is three fold. From macro to micro, our objective for the new Danny Lane sculpture site is: to enrich the civic life of greater Reston; to contribute a permanent sculpture to the Reston Town Center development that introduces a unique and elevating experience and to specifically form a connection between the new Signature residential tower that both harmonizes with the building’s elegant design and serves as a welcoming transition from the adjacent public green space.

Danny Lane is an American glass artist currently living and working in London. He is best known for his large scale glass and steel sculptures. Through his work, he contrasts the seeming fragility of glass as a material with the sturdiness of steel to create sculptures that are at once commanding and elegant. His work can be found in collections around the world, from London, to Hong Kong, to the United States.

Photo via Public Art Reston and Danny Lane

Nominations Open for Volunteer Service Awards — Reston Association is seeking nominations for its annual Volunteer Reston Service Awards which recognize individuals, groups, families and businesses that are contributing to the community through volunteer service. Award winners will be announced at a ceremony at The Lake House on April 19. Nominations are due by Feb. 9. [Reston Association]

Artwork Available for Purchase from Monster Drawing Rally — Greater Reston Arts Center is selling remaining artwork from its live monster drawing valley event and fundraiser. During the program, more than 50 artists created artwork on site.  Pieces are available online. To purchase, email [email protected] or stop by the gallery. All proceeds benefit the center. [Greater Reston Arts Center]

Election Information Session Set for Jan. 3 — Individuals interested in running for an open seat on RA’s board of directors can attend the information session, which will provide an overview of the elections process and candidates’ roles and responsibilities. The session will take place at RA headquarter (12002 Sunrise Valley Drive) from 7 – 8 p.m. [Reston Association]

Philosopher Rachel Jones, choreographer Britta Joy Peterson and visual artists PLAKOOKEE will present a creative professional performance in response to work on view in the gallery of the Greater Reston Arts Center (12001 Market St.) on Thursday from 6 – 7 p.m.

The event, called as a creative response, allows presenters to comment on work they have viewed through an innovative presentation. The performances are followed by an open discussion.

October’s creative response is held in conjunction with the Now Be Here project. The event is free and open to the public.

Jones, whose background is in philosophy, is interested in using art and literature to explore the intersection of feminist philosophy, queer theory and critical race theory.

Peterson is a dance artist who specializes in contemporary dance. She is also the director of dance at American University.

PLAKOOKEE is a creative collaboration between Justin Plakas and Rachel Debuque, designers and artists who combine sculpture, installation, constructed realities and new media to create art.

For detailed descriptions of the presenters and for more information, visit GRACE’s website.

Photo via GRACE

“A Bird in the Hand,” a nest-like sculpture made from tree saplings in Reston Town Square Park, will get a celebratory send-off on Saturday ahead of its removal next week.

The 14-foot-high sculpture, which rests across from the Greater Reston Arts Center (12001 Market St. #103), was created by artist Patrick Dougherty in 2015 using ash, hickory, red maple, oak and willow saplings.

The center will celebrate the art piece’s impact in creating an immersive, magical experience since its installation, according to a release by the center:

“The work’s popularity with adults and children has been manifested in thousands of games of tag and hide and seek played within its woody realm. This project was a communal, participatory experience both through its funding and installation. Sculptor Dougherty spent weeks on-site constructing the sculpture in tandem with a team of community volunteers who contributed enormously to the creation process.”

The celebration is free and will include projects involving sticks and nests, and dance performances sponsored by the Reston Community Center. Artists from Gin Dance Company and GroundShare Arts Alliance will perform dances connected to the sculpture and a documentary film about the sculpture by director Rebekah Wingert-Jabi will play all day in the GRACE gallery, according to the release.

The installation must be removed because it was created from harvest samplings, which typically last for roughly two years, said Erica Harrison, GRACE’s associate curator and festival director. Preliminary discussions are underway to determine what will replace the sculpture in the spring of next year, she said.

The center hopes to bring a new installation that culminates its exhibition of artist Sue Wrbican’s work. Her art, which examines the relationship between time and space, is on display at GRACE through Nov. 18.

Early sponsorships for the future art installation have been secured from the Reston Town Center Association and the Reston Community Center, Harrison said. Final project approval is pending.

Season Subscription Now Available for Players — The 51st season of Reston Community Players will include performances of “Aida,” “Peter and the Starcatcher,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” Season tickets are $82 for adults and $72 for students and senior citizens. [Reston Community Players]

Telehealth Provider Expanding in Reston — An expansion of Avizia, who partners with providers to deploy and power system-wide telehealth, will bring 27 more jobs to the community. [Fairfax County Economic Development Authority]

Reception for ‘Althea’ is Tonight — The latest public artwork installed on the Lake Thoreau spillway by the South Lakes High School STEAM Team will have its official reception tonight from 6:30-8 p.m. at Reston Association headquarters (12001 Sunrise Valley Drive). RSVP to [email protected]. [Reston Now]

Sobriety Checkpoint Planned for Saturday Night — A sobriety checkpoints will be conducted by the Fairfax County Police Department on Saturday from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. [FCPD]

BXP Senior VP Talks About Reston Gateway — In an interview with Bisnow, Boston Properties Senior Vice President Peter Otteni says the property between Reston Town Center and the future Silver Line Metro station will be “a great complement to Reston Town Center” that won’t have “as soft-goods-driven of a user base.” Rather, he says, it “will be much more food, entertainment and convenience.” [Bisnow]

Best Reston Business Awards Ballots Go Out Today — Don’t forget to sign up for Reston Now’s email list so you can vote in the 2017 Best Reston Business Awards. [Reston Now]

The annual Chalk on the Water festival this weekend at Lake Anne Plaza brought out a bevy of artists, young and old, to color bricks with public art.

About 150 participants gathered on the plaza Saturday and Sunday to be a part of the annual event. Artists participated in four categories: family/elementary, family/junior and senior high school, amateur artists, and professional artists. Cash prizes were awarded in each category.

Winners at the festival were:

Professional Artists
1st Place: Ben Morse
2nd Place: Penny Hauffe
3rd Place: Phil Erickson

Fans of public art now have greater access to Reston’s collection, as it has been added to a national online database thanks to the efforts of Public Art Reston.

Three dozen pieces of public art in the community are now catalogued in the Public Art Archive. They can be accessed by searching for “Reston, VA” on the website, which is currently featuring on its front page Patrick Dougherty’s “A Bird in the Hand” temporary installation outside Greater Reston Arts Center.

“We are pleased to incorporate Reston’s public art collection into the Public Art Archive after months of extensive collection management work by Public Art Reston’s art administrators,” said Lori Goldstein, the archive’s manager. “Reston’s collection shows outstanding diversity in the variety of projects, artists and sites chosen for both permanent and temporary public art throughout the community, and it is evident that Public Art Reston has excelled in establishing collaborative and creative partnerships to bring projects to fruition.”

Among the works pictured, detailed and mapped in the archives are sculptures, fountains, architecture and more. Public Art Reston committed to contributing content to PAA’s digital repository in order to give broader access to the community’s public art collection, its executive director Anne Delaney said.

“Creating greater awareness of Reston’s cultural assets supports Public Art Reston’s mission to inspire an ongoing commitment to public art and create a new generation of artworks in Reston,” she said.

Screencap via PublicArtArchive.org

Metro’s Art in Transit Program is recommending the vision of a Colorado-based artist to become the motif of the future Reston Town Center Metro station.

Last week, the program unveiled the proposal of Joshua Wiener as its pick for the public art installation at the station’s walkways over the Dulles Toll Road. Wiener’s designs, which are shown on his personal website, consist of powder-coated aluminum sculptures of a bassist, a horn player and a drummer, as well as flowing red and teal ribbon designs down the corridors.

Wiener’s proposal was chosen over two other finalists. The program received 45 total submissions for the project. The Art Review Panel included the Fairfax County Department of Transportation, the Arts Council of Fairfax County, Public Art Reston and other Virginia-based visual art professionals.

According to the Art in Transit Program, the public art initiative benefits Metro as a whole by:

• Creating attractive transit facilities
• Building livable communities by creating public spaces that reflect the artistic, cultural and historic environment
• Creating economic opportunities for artists, engineers, fabricators and other professionals

WMATA’s Customer Service Operations and Security Committee approved the proposal at its Thursday meeting. The full WMATA board will vote on it this summer. Upon board approval, WMATA will enter into contract with Wiener to develop, fabricate and install the artwork.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which is overseeing construction of Phase II of the Silver Line, is funding the public art effort. The project’s funding is capped at $250,000.

Public art is returning to the spillway on Lake Thoreau.

For the third straight year, South Lakes High School art students have created a structure that will decorate the lake for several months. The project has become an annual one after a local resident thought the concrete platform would be an ideal place for artwork, he worked with — and helped fund — the South Lakes students.

The students have incorporated elements of physics and engineering in all three works, thereby taking on the name “the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math).

The SLHS STEAM Team’s 2016 sculpture is titled “Simon.” It pays tribute to Reston’s founder, Bob Simon, who died last year at age 101.

From the project’s mission statement:

Inspired by Robert E. Simon’s Seven Principles of Community, Simon shows that beauty, both structural and natural, is a necessity of a good life and should be fostered. The house structure represents how the hospitality of Reston draws people into the community, its warm colors creating an inviting atmosphere, and the curtain + window illustrating Reston’s welcoming nature.

Reston is our home, and the house serves as a representation of such. The pieces radiating out from the center express an organic shape that changes the way the structure is viewed to communicate something that is less industrial and more attune to nature and the form it takes, like roots of a tree.

The gradient emphasizes the diversity of the people within our community, who come from many different walks of life but still intend to be part of one single entity. The white accents draws the eye towards the structure and represents the bright impression of the inside view.

The project installation began Wednesday and will continue Thursday. The sculpture will have special evening lighting that will make it visible in the dark, said SLHS art teacher Marco Rando.

There will be an opening reception/dedication of the project on Monday, July 25.