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This collection of 8 silhouette sculptures was commissioned by the city of Emeryville to brighten up a freeway underpass.
From the City of Emeryville website:
In 2002, the City of Emeryville selected an artist team comprised of Emeryville-based Vickie Jo Sowell and M. Louise Stanley, and Berkeley-based lighting designer Jeremy Hamm for the commission of artwork under the Powell Street Underpass. The project, conceived by the City's Public Art Committee, had a main goal of improving the underpass environment to make it friendlier to pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The City received numerous proposals, but the artist team of Sowell, Stanley and Hamm were ultimately selected for their proposal to install eight larger-than-life painted steel figures that represent personalities drawn from the Emeryville population. The added element of evening lighting on the figures allows their silhouettes to be cast dramatically against the back abutment walls of the underpass, which were painted light blue to improve the overall appearance of the underpass and quality of the artwork. The figures include a father and daughter, an Emeryville police officer, a self-portrait of team member Louise Stanley, and tourists looking at an Emeryville map.
"Neighborhood Convergence" was one of the more complex projects that the City has undertaken in its Art in Public Places Program, with a total budget exceeding $200,000. The three-year project involved several approval stages from both the City and Caltrans, due to the project's location on Caltrans right-of-way. It was necessary to bring in electrical power for the lighting; the electrical work was completed earlier this year. The sculptures are supported by four-foot footings on posts that can withstand 80 mph winds.
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