Article & Photos Provided by the Town of Zionsville
The very first piece of public art has been installed at Zionsville Town Hall.
“Visual Melody,” designed, created and installed by Indiana artist Susan Tennant, can be viewed by all Town Hall guests in the building’s front entrance lobby.
When the new Zionsville Town Hall opened in fall of 2017, one of Mayor Tim Haak’s goals was to add artwork to the various walls. A Town Hall Art Task Force made up of Zionsville artists and business owners selected Tennant’s proposal for the Town Hall lobby after a month-long process in which Indiana artists were invited to submit proposals for their vision for the space. The Town Hall Art Task Force worked closely with the Arts Council of Indianapolis to create an open call for public art in Town Hall.
Tennant’s goal was to create a sculpture that harmoniously weaves its way through and into the wall space and at the same time to represent Zionsville Town services and patrons who use the adjacent Big-4 Rail Trail. In “Visual Melody,” Tennant weaves together fiberglass rods and geometric wooden shapes enhanced by bold colors to create layers of dimensionality and emphasize the concept volume without mass.
“The intersections of horizontal lines with the vertical constructions reference a continuum of a playful dance,” Tennant says. “Each line, or fiberglass rod, is orchestrated to another so there is no apparent starting or ending point.”
When the Art Task Force saw Tennant’s proposal, they were impressed by both her use of color and the method in which she used the entire wall and not just parts of it.
“My intention was to create an artwork that would uniquely represent the energetic system and association of the Zionsville Town services and nearby Big-4 Rail Trail,” Tennant says. “Something that visitors and employees would find interesting, playful and entice conversation.”
Tennant’s sculpture can be viewed in the Town Hall lobby. For more information about Tennant, visit susantennant.com.
