Izar
Bruce White
Izar, photo by Alexander Kravets
Izar
Bruce White
Stainless steel, 30’ high. Made in Illinois. Installed in 2007.
Site: Entrance to Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport, Jefferson Avenue at Bland Boulevard
Bruce White, photo by Louis Fronkier
With its soaring lines and gleaming metal surface, Izar is well suited to its site: at the entrance to the airport serving Newport News and the surrounding community. So, too, is the story behind it: Izar is an occupant of the sky, one of the stars in the constellation called Bootes, the form of a man with one arm raised, holding, perhaps, a scythe or reins. Among the stories associated with this figure is that he drives the bears of the nearby constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor around the Pole Star, Polaris.
To appreciate Izar, it helps to understand how Bruce White works. He likes to start with a sheet of paper or thin metal and twist, turn and manipulate it until something plain and flat becomes something complex and three-dimensional. White describes this process as seeing something new and unexpected in the commonplace. In the case of Izar, the flat shape became a large parallelogram, split vertically into six connected panels that are arrayed in a gentle twist around a central axis. The result is an interplay of planes and spaces, made more complex still by the surface tracings and the shimmering show they put on as the light changes from day into night.
Audio Tour: Hear Bruce White tell you about Izar.
Click here to learn more about Bruce White.
