Compass (Hudson)
Compass is a public artwork by American artist Jon Barlow Hudson, located above the Brady Street Pedestrian Bridge, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Description
Compass consists of mirror-polished stainless steel tubes and four different blocks of Wisconsin granite. The sculpture measures 12'h. x 10'w. x 3'd. and was installed and signed by Hudson in 2005. This abstract/geometric sculpture connects four Wisconsin granite blocks with stainless steel tubes to form the shape of a circle or "compass". The sculpture includes Wausau Ruby Red, Glacial Rose, Amberg Silver Grey and Mellen Black Gabbro granite. The sculpture sits along the bike-path at the edge of the cliff above Brady St. Bridge, overlooking Lincoln Boulevard in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Historical information
Location history
Compass was commissioned through a national competition of the County of Milwaukee for the new Pedestrian Brady Street Bridge. It is one part of the commission; Hudson also created Sentinels nestled within the circle of the ramp descending from the bridge. A poem written by Hudson's mother, poet Jean Barlow Hudson is engraved at the base of the sculpture. Hudson claims the poem was a premonition for this sculpture, although it was written "in the 40s before I was born." The poem reads as follows:"Inner time is limitless –
from past lives
I can no longer remember,
only feel.
Time flows,
and around me a continuum
moves and swirls,
engulfing me,
and moves majestically
beyond
my inner sight or imagination.
This time is immense,
a celestial sphere
yet it does not forget me,
does not neglect me.
It embraces me.
I am part of its verity.
It is a part of mine.
My life flows. It flows."
Compass is also based on a local Lakota Sioux Native-American story of discovering the four points of a compass. In the story, a bird leads the narrator to four boulders, symbolizing different directions. Hudson includes a depiction of this bird in his northern stone; he uses the copper cutout bird from the Mound City Hopewell Indians of Ohio as a guide. The stainless steel tubes were polished to a mirror-like quality for multiple reasons: "to incorporate the color and atmosphere of the environment into the work, reflect the movement of passers-by, and to make the stones float, like my Father did with my Mother in their floating ring trick back in the 40s in Wyoming when he was a professional magician named Bendu."
In addition to these references, Hudson also incorporates the Chinese jade disc "bi" or "pi" – the symbol for unity, peace, wholeness and heaven.