Spring Breeze

Rodney Carroll

Spring Breeze
Rodney Carroll
Stainless steel and bronze, 18’ tall. Made in Maryland. Installed 2001.
Site: Entrance to Port Warwick, 11800 block of Jefferson Avenue

Like many sculptures, Spring Breeze can be appreciated on more than one level. There is the piece itself, its shape and energy, the interplay of lines and metals, the way it works in its surroundings. And there is the sculpture as an expression of the artist’s ideas, the way he uses metal to tell us something he wants to share.

In the case of Carroll and Spring Breeze, that something is about relationships, both the relationships people have with one another and the relationships individuals have with themselves and with their environment. The planes that Carroll manipulates, and the choices he make about their placement, take on new meaning when we realize that he’s using them to “talk” about the ways we come together and the ways we are separate. The thin vertical bands stand out when we consider that they say something about the energy that drives and sustains us.

Carroll explains other layers of meaning in his piece. With its precise and polished metals, it evokes the city’s maritime history by incorporating materials used in the shipbuilding that has dominated the local economy for generations. In addition to paying homage to the past, it also suggests looking forward and blossoming, the spring referred to in the piece’s title.

 Audio Tour: Hear Carroll tell you about Spring Breeze.

Click here to learn more about Rodney Carroll.