Photograph used under the Creative Commons Clause
The Boise River Sculpture is located in downtown Boise on the corner of Front Street and Capitol Blvd. It is on the wall of the Grove Hotel and is designed to be a pictorial image of the Boise River. According to Allison Sky who created the art work in 1999 the image is supposed to be a visual celebration of water, the universal source of life.
The sculpture is made out of granite stone, various neon colors, fog, fused glass, a light reactive background and is 19 feet wide by 50 foot high. The wall is engraved in a natural, vertical profile, revealing the river within that appears to be growing up like a vine from beneath the ground and along the face of the building. At times the sculpture has actual running water that flows through it and the animated interplay of water and light is projected, creating an effect of looking into reflective water.
According to the plaque located within the Grove Hotel, research revealed the existence of a network of canals beneath the city streets, and the Boise City Canal beneath the new hotel. The sculpture acknowledges the existence of this water by releasing it so that it appears to burst out of the ground and reclaim the wall. The river imagery grows directly out of the importance and connection of the life and inhabitants of the city to the river. Works Cited:
Commission, B. C. (1999). Alison Sky . Retrieved October 18, 2011, from River Sculpture: http://alisonsky.com/html_files/web_album/web_album_finished/pages/boise.htm
History of the canals taken form the plaque located inside the Grove Hotel