Fields of Transformation | Claudy Jongstra
Moelis Grand Reading Room in Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia | Commissioned by Gensler Philadelphia Philadelphia / United States / 2017
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May 3rd, 2017, Claudy Jongstra completed the installation of her largest mural so far 'Fields of Transformation' in the new Moelis Family Grand Reading Room in Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Jongstra was invited to create this large piece by global design firm Gensler in 2016 after unveiling several impressive murals in the Light Court and the restaurant of the Barnes Foundation. The Moelis Family Grand Reading Room is the Penn Libraries’ response to a desire for quieter space for reflective study in Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center following recent renovations more directed toward collaboration and communication among students. Gensler and Claudy Jongstra recognized the opportunity to create not only an aesthetically remarkable piece, but also a work that doubles as a high-performance acoustical material, allowing the space to function as a grand yet quiet, focus oriented environment.
Fields of Transformation comprises three huge pieces, varying in dimension, the largest being nearly 6 meters high by 15 meters wide, made of felted wool and pure silk. This soft, generous gesture opens and subtly defines the space where knowledge transforms into insight and eternal wisdom by visualizing the change as it moves from the head to the heart. The source of knowledge is blue, from the indigo plant on the wool from the ancient Drenthe Heath Sheep, combining eastern and western hemispheres of knowledge of the past that is stewarded by the library. One of the oldest fibers known to man, the shiny, pure white threads from the Chinese silkworm show the intellectual stage of active knowledge, derived in the mind from research with the help of new connections and profound understanding; completely reflective, white awakens openness and growth. Chamomile, an age-old dyer’s plant, renders its glow to the warm yellow heart, where the dynamic transformation of information into golden wisdom takes place, through engagement, curiosity, and irrational creativity, to shape the future.
Claudy Jongstra: 'Lots of people will be mindfully reading and studying in this library, thus opening up and coming into contact with unknown worlds, that's also what this art piece is about.'
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May 3rd, 2017, Claudy Jongstra completed the installation of her largest mural so far 'Fields of Transformation' in the new Moelis Family Grand Reading Room in Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Jongstra was invited to create this large piece by global design firm Gensler in 2016 after unveiling several impressive murals in the Light Court and the restaurant of the Barnes Foundation. The Moelis Family Grand Reading Room is the Penn...
- Year 2017
- Work started in 2016
- Work finished in 2017
- Client Gensler
- Status Completed works
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