Bayliss’ artwork fills public spaces
By Deborah Lilly
The artwork of Anderson University Professor Arlon Bayliss can now be seen in public spaces in Indianapolis. In the last few years, he has competed for and earned commissions from the Indianapolis and Marion County Public Library and the Indianapolis International Airport. He used the same materials for both sites but with very different results, both stunning. The processes for each piece were also very different, but where he could, he called on his students to help, giving them experience in making public art while working alongside a professional artist.
The library for which Bayliss created his first piece sits in downtown Indianapolis, not far from the Circle. A new building was constructed to nestle around the old, historic library building. To accommodate its patrons, the new structure included a two-level basement parking garage. The library wanted to create spaces at the elevators that were bright and lively, and they chose Bayliss as one of the artists to meet that challenge.
“I asked three students to work with me in doing experiments using sheets of glass and reflective light,” says Bayliss. The glass they worked with is dichroic glass, a glass that appears to be one color but reflects a complementary color. His idea was to use cut pieces of this glass with fiber optic lights.
“I thought this kind of work would be very appropriate for a basement setting because a basement is dark and this would be a very lively and bright and exciting piece for people to look at as they walked toward the elevators, and it would draw people in,” Bayliss explains.
In between the time the model was made and the installation of the piece began, Bayliss began to consider adding words to his piece. His hope was to use the dichroic glass and the fiber optic lights to reflect letters and words onto the wall. “And it was only a small step from that to think of poetry,” says Bayliss.
Bayliss began working with Indiana Poet Laureate Joyce Brinkman to come up with a poem that would reflect the project and be appropriate for a library. “I had a certain number of lights, so that meant that I had to ask her for a poem with a certain number of letters,” says Bayliss.
Brinkman responded with a type of poem called a tetracty: “Light captured in words won’t hide in shadow. It emerges to illuminate life.”
Bayliss was thrilled with Brinkman’s poem. “I wanted something that would really be understood easily by a broad range of visitors to the library — kids, older people, people who only have a few moments to read it — but also something that was profound if people really thought about it.
“The challenge was then to figure out how to translate these words into light.”
Bayliss called again on his three student helpers — Cara Camp, Danielle Nicholson, and Lauren Shirer, along with his wife and artist, Mary Jo Andersen, whom he married in July 2008. Together, they cut the glass, mapped out the design, and began the installation.
ayliss learned in working with public projects that he should always expect delays. The basement parking lot was not completed on schedule, so Bayliss and his crew worked on their project while concrete workers finished the basement. Despite the dust and the noise, Bayliss’ project had to be finished on time. Not only was the opening of the library looming ahead, but also school would begin soon, and he would lose his three students. So Bayliss called in more recruits. Alums Bill BA ’05 and Beth (Boughton) BA ’04 Cundiff, Kyle BA ’04 and Mary (Notturno) BA ’03 Jaracz, and Zach Wolff BA ’07 began helping with the installation, along with other undergraduates who came sporadically on weekends and evenings.
The project was completed in October 2007, just in time for Bayliss to begin work on a piece for the Indianapolis International Airport.
More than 550 artists submitted résumés and samples of their work to the airport committee. Of those 550, forty were asked to submit proposals. Bayliss’ proposal, Flight Wave, was one of the pieces chosen to be installed in the new airport.
Unlike the library project, Bayliss did not get to install this piece. He designed the piece, but then, under the rules of the project, found a company to make the dichroic glass pieces and install them along a glass wall. Bayliss supervised the installation, but was not allowed to do any of it himself.
Bayliss enjoyed collaborating with his wife, Mary Jo, in the final composition of Flight Wave. “Her abilities were a real asset in supervising the installation of the work,” he says. The piece is located near the security area of the airport. The dichroic glass is cut into the shapes of chevrons to resemble birds in flight. The more than 200 chevrons are attached to the glass wall but seem to be floating in mid-air. The light from above strikes the glass chevrons and reflects their complementary colors onto the floor.
These public pieces not only get Bayliss’ name out as an artist but also provide students with opportunities to work on projects that will be standing for decades to come. It is a unique experience for students who are already working in a distinctive glass program.
