"Jet Stream" Arrives at Purdue

The sculpture arrives from Chicago on a truck.

Pickett Park has a new addition: "Jet Stream," a large metal sculpture. "Jet Stream" is the creation of Chicago sculptor Nicole Beck. Before arriving at Purdue, "Jet Stream" was on display along the Chicago River in Beck's hometown. The sculpture was part of an exhibit Beck helped to organize to showcase the works of nine local sculptors. During this exhibit, "Jet Stream" was sponsored by Boeing Corporation. The sculpture is now installed in Pickett Park, where it will remain for two years.

"Jet Stream" is then lowered into place.

Nicole Beck has another tie to Purdue - she used to be a student here. Nicole did some of her undergraduate studies at Purdue before going to the Art Institute of Chicago and finally to Loyola University of Chicago where she graduated as a Communications major. Beck then when on to Northern Illinois University where she received her Masters of Fine Arts. After graduation, Beck taught classes at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. She has also taught at Chicago's Gallery 37 and Urban Gateways in Chicago at which she was the lead artist. Beck has exhibited nationwide and in many well-known galleries and museums.

The artist, Nicole Beck, and a friend viewed through the large sculpture.

Sculpture is Beck's medium of choice. Most of her work is influenced by nature and science. Beck's large sculptures have been displayed at various prominent locations throughout the United States including Jackson University, Western Michigan University, and the South Bend Airport. Beck's artwork can often be found in her native Chicago in famous locations such as Navy Pier, Wicker Park, and DeVry University and the ESPN Zone.

Ms. Beck adds a second element to the piece.

"Jet Stream" is a large sculpture made of painted steel. Here are Ms. Beck's thoughts on her work: "This piece was designed out of a body of work that had been exploring abstract metaphors for astronomical physics and dynamics. Many of these works had incorporated large lenses that would refract and distort the surrounding environment. I found through experimentation that the sun would cast lovely elliptical shadows on the ground during its trek across the sky if the lenses were left out of the holes that pierced the steel planes (much like a sundial.) These holes, some small and some very large really excited me in the way that light and landscape could be transmitted and encapsulated according to your vantage point and the particular position of the sun. These holes could "reframe" the surrounding landscape as was particularly evidenced when Jet Stream was located along the Chicago River this last October for a one-month exhibition before its traveling to Purdue. Jet Stream was sponsored by the Boeing Corporation in this exhibition organized by Chicago's Friends of the River. The 26-foot long channel beam that gracefully pierces Jet Stream's hole and also upholds and levers the sculpture at a dynamic angle simulates the earth's jet streams. The channel was bent by a Chicago firm that also computer-engineered and rolled the wonderful stainless tubes that arc across Frank Gehry's Millennium park project. I have always been interested in reinterpreting the universe and our own planet's natural forces and this piece is an expression in the progression of my inquiry.

The sculptor secures the pieces in place.

"Many of my previous sculptures and installations have also investigated plants as an art medium and their interconnectedness with humans and our environment. A recent installation in Chicago's Grant Park Snake Gourd Chamber Maze was designed for a public art project sponsored by Chicago's Park District. This 40'x 100' garden was constructed in the shape of a Celtic knot that looped pathways through a garden of exotic, exquisite plants that were carefully chosen in collaboration with a city horticulturalist. The plants were chosen for their qualities in color, leaf texture, plant height, spacing and layout, butterfly and bee attractors, smell, etc. The "loop" and arc of this project's pathways echo Jet Stream's tail and tongue and provide integration and balance to the project. Viewers are drawn in and through the sculptures via abstract shapes that strike a chord in cultural and natural recognition."