Alison Saar makes figurative sculpture addressing identity, history, and transformation. Documented U.S. public projects include Feallan and Fallow in Madison Square Park, Flourish at San Francisco International Airport, and Embodied at Los Angeles’s Hall of Justice.
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What the project record tells us
Temporary group installation in Madison Square Park
Seasonal change structures a group of figures
Madison Square Park Conservancy’s 2011 Feallan and Fallow presentation brought together figurative works linked to the seasons and to the myth of Persephone. The installation included earlier Tree Souls as well as the exhibition’s broader grouping. That distinction is useful for BAP when evaluating a program assembled from works with different histories. A curatorial brief should explain how the grouping creates a site experience, what each component contributes, and how the presentation date relates to the dates of the individual sculptures.
How would the selection and arrangement of several works create a coherent experience for the site?
Big Art Partners planning prompt
Public sculpture in an airport terminal
An airport setting frames a work about movement
SFO Museum dates Flourish to 2021 and locates it in Terminal 2’s public area before security. Its interpretation connects Saar’s figure to migration, displacement, resilience, and welcome. The airport setting makes those themes especially relevant to the varied circumstances of people passing through. For BAP, the precedent suggests discussing what a work offers during a brief encounter as well as a longer pause. The material record identifies stainless steel, patina, and paint, while maintenance or fabrication specifications would require separate documentation.
How would the work communicate to people arriving, departing, waiting, or simply passing through?
Big Art Partners planning prompt
Publicly informed sculpture at the Los Angeles Hall of Justice
Public language becomes part of a cast figure
Los Angeles County’s annual report documents Embodied through both participation and fabrication. Words gathered through conversations with county staff and community groups became part of the figure’s dress; the report also traces enlargement from a small model and production through multiple molds. This gives BAP a concrete example of how public contributions can enter an artist-led sculptural process. A comparable brief should explain how language is selected, how contributors understand its eventual use, and how the transformation from words to finished form is documented.
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