Under a Sky Spread with Light

Florence Ledding Library, Milwaukie, Oregon
2019
Hand-carved cork mounted on wood, acrylic, varnish, recycled PET acoustic felt (ceiling leaves)
8' x 42' x 2.25" (mural); 40' x 40' (ceiling leaves)
Commissioned by the Milwaukie Arts Commission

Under a Sky Spread with Light is a hand-carved low-relief mural for the children's story time room at the Ledding Library. It pairs with Objects in a Stream, the dividing wall elsewhere in the building, and both works draw on the trees of the city.

The mural's shape follows the stretch of the Willamette River that passes through Milwaukie. The composition takes the view of someone floating downstream and looking up at branches against the sky. The carved leaves are the neighborhood's own cottonwood, dogwood, maple, and oak, backlit by a sky-blue field. Along the length of the wall the leaves and the color of the sky change, carrying viewers through the turn of the seasons.

The carved surface and the leaf shapes hung from the ceiling above also work as soundproofing, which helps make a room where children can speak up inside a quiet library. They look out and up toward the natural world, and visitors of every age can drift downstream through the year.