Tucson's Public Art
Pipe Flow with 30

Title: Pipe with Flow 30 by Paul Edwards (2003)

Location: NW Corner of the park at Silverlake and Kino (SE Corner of Silverlake and Mountain)

Details: Concrete and ceramic tile.

He Said:

This piece caused an uproar in Tucson like you wouldn't believe. The original neighborhood where it was going to be installed deemed it too ugly for them and refused to have it installed. It then went into storage for a while, and is finally installed in a newish park right along Campbell Ave. You know, there's a lot of things I don't like, and don't find exactly asthetically pleasing, either.

But, isn't that the point. Think how boring it would be if you liked everything. No difference between pizza and tapioca pudding. Not caring whether you got an ice cream shake or a glass of seltzer water. After all, you like them both.

Anyway, I'm glad it found a home, although personally, I wouldn't mind it if it had been placed in a more prominent location, because I like it.

She Said:

Uproar notwithstanding, I like this piece, too.  I think that Paul Edwards did a great job of depicting water bursting out of its pipes, and flowing across the desert landscape.  Surface water in Tucson tends to look brown, mixed as it is with sand from the washes and normally dry riverbeds; it wouldn't make sense for the sculpture to be painted blue.  It's an imaginative piece of artwork, and I was sorry to note that it has been defaced in spots with boring, unimaginative graffiti; the work deserves better than that, and so does the artist.

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Copyright © 2004 S. Halversen. All rights reserved.