FRANKLIN STREET BENCHES

Through the town’s streetscape improvement initiative, artist Arlene Slavin was selected to design and fabricate stainless steel benches located in downtown Chapel Hill. Slavin’s sculptures draw upon the tradition of using the natural world and various cultural systems combined with symbols, abstract entities, and patterns. Working in a wide range of sculptural material, including metals, concrete, and terrazzo, her forms weave an interplay of silhouettes and shadows. Slavin seeks an enigmatic line that abstracts and animates nature. Ms. Slavin has extensive experience in executing site specific sculptures. She truly enjoys the collaborative process of public sculpture, and is commited to an art that enlivens the urban public space. Her current
work consists of sculpture, ornamental fences, gates, railings, floor inlays, room dividers, folding screens, and carved glass windscreens. The "emblematic imagery" is both personal and accessible to the public at large.