Stars and Stripers

The sculpture ‘Stars and Stripers’ is created in honor of Rachel Carson, who wrote several important books about life in the ocean, before she became known around the world for her book ‘Silent Spring’, which led to the banning of DDT and kicked off the environmental movement.

‘Stars and Stripers’ depicts an Ocean cliff with sea stars, striped bass (locally called ‘stripers’), a few limpets and a periwinkle shell. On the pedestal lies (a stone creation) of the book ‘The Sea around Us’ as if left there by the researcher and writer after a day of observations.

A spider crane was used to set the stone cliff onto its base of polished black granite inside the building

The casting of the 9 stripers in aluminum was done at the Green Foundry in Eliot /Maine.

This image depicts the wax casts before dipping in clay to create the cast molds.

Stripers in the ceramic casting shell, and with the armature to allow metal be poured into the shell

Freshly cast aluminum stripers

The artist used a mix of traditional and modern patinas to create the life-like appearance of a striped bass.

Lift used to reach the ceiling of the foyer to install the nylon cables to hang the striped bass sculptures

View looking down from the raised lift during installation

View to the ceiling of the 3-story foyer