Trail Meander

Section of trail restored in meander shape, seating and sculptural elements of wood and glass fiber reinforced concrete, 2023

Approx. 160' x 150'

Commissioned by Pennsylvania Department of Transportation with funding from the Federal Highway Administration. Created in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation; Office for Public Art; the City of Pittsburgh; HDR; and Swank Construction Co. LLC.

Installed in Frick Park under the new Fern Hollow Bridge, Pittsburgh

Budget $140,000.

Trail Meander is an installation beneath the newly rebuilt Fern Hollow bridge which responds to both the bridge and the site of the Fern Hollow ravine. The artwork includes a trail restored in a meander shape, as well as seating and sculptural elements on the trail and on the slopes of the ravine. Time and water are major themes.

The bridge is a statement of efficiency - the shortest line between two points, skipping over the steep, rugged terrain of the ravine. The trail below is the slow path through Frick Park, the one we choose when we are interested in the journey, when the cool breeze, the sunlight through the trees, the song of the birds, are what we are after. This work takes the slow path and slows it down even more, inviting us to stop and rest. The path of the Tranquil Trail widens out, curves back and forth, offers islands and places to perch.

The forms of the artwork - the riverlike meander of the trail and the seating and sculptural elements resembling river boulders and driftwood - reference the history of the site and its formation over geologic time largely by the movement of water. The bridge above, by contrast, was an engineering feat completed in just over a year.

Time is also present in the weathering of the artwork elements - the wood elements, many of them made from trees that were removed from the site, will be allowed to move through the natural cycle of nature, slowly returning to soil over the course of decades.