Shy Canopy

Wood, steel cable, latex paint, 2020

80’ long x 16’ x 6’

Installed at the Pittsburgh International Airport. Commissioned by the Allegheny County Airport Authority

Budget $35,000.

Shy Canopy is a sculptural installation suspended under a skylight that is inspired by the act of looking up into a tree canopy in the sunlight. Each of the 13 modules consists of a wooden spaceframe structure with multiple suspended elements that reference leaf clusters. The forms of the spaceframes take historic regional bridge trusses as a starting point, while the leaf cluster shapes suspended from them reference the leaves of White Oak and Sugar Maple, two of the Pittsburgh area's most common trees. Both the spaceframes and the leaf clusters hang from swivels which allow them to turn, making the air currents visible. The soft movement allows the sculpture to change subtly over time.

The title and overall form of the sculpture was inspired by Crown Shyness or Canopy Shyness - a phenomenon seen in some forests where trees maintain a gap between their leafy crowns and those of their neighbors. Scientists are not completely sure why this happens, but some think that it may be a sort of social distancing for trees, the gaps slowing the spread of disease and leaf-eating insects.