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East Entryway to Patriot Plaza, Sarasota National Cemetery, Sarasota, FL, 2014
Ann Hirsch Sculpture Studio

Description:

Patriot Plaza is the result of a first-ever partnership between a private charitable entity – The Patterson Foundation – and the National Cemetery Administration. Art is integrated throughout the 1.83-acre ceremonial amphitheater. Ann’s permanent installation for Patriot Plaza comprises two large format wall sculptures that present a re-envisioning of our national symbol as a protective and nurturing figure while highlighting the role families play in the services and sacrifices of our men and women in uniform. Through national symbols and the values they evoke, many become one. All are included in the American Bald Eagle’s embrace. The Eagle became our national symbol for its courage and loyalty to family.

While in their nests, parent eagles “mantle”; they use their wings to shroud their food supply and protect their young from harm. In the sculpture, the eagles perch at two eye levels, high and low, and the elder eagle teaches the eaglet a gesture of protection. The bronze branches are enveloped in the curvature of the wall and stand off the surface far enough that the rising and the setting of the southerly sun casts patterns of light and shadow on the wall behind the sculpture.

Ann’s permanent installation for Patriot Plaza comprises two large format wall sculptures that present a re-envisioning of our national symbol as a protective and nurturing figure while highlighting the role families play in the services and sacrifices of our men and women in uniform. Like a human dwelling, the nest on the right side of the entryway is a “Home” where acts of everyday life occur. The sculpture on the left side of the east entryway to Patriot Plaza is accompanied by a quote from Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address regarding the formation of the National Cemetery System.

Media
You can see the Home project book here.
Sarasota Magazine with Kay Kipling, 8.27.14; Herald Tribune with Susan Rife, 11.13.14.

Media and dimensions: bronze, stainless steel and boralstone, two wall sculptures, each 17’ x 6’ x 3’
Collection/Commission: The Patterson Foundation
Photography: Steven Brooke and Sean Harris, Foundry: New England Sculpture Service, Installation: BronzArt Foundry