art and environment
together with tangents
“My sculpture titled ‘Together with Tangents’ is a response to form. The structure plays with six simple elements found in the gardens. The stake, the rope, the twist or spiral, the guy ropes that hold the form in a tension, the screw and the tassel. These few themes metamorphosed into an open structure of tension and release. I designed the metal stakes so that they would remain firmly rooted and hold ropes above the surface of the ground, forming parallel planes with the changing surface of the growing grass.”
Cecile Elstein
play structure
In 1976, Cecile designed a pine play structure specifically for children with disabilities, which was erected in 1978. Her notebooks offer insight into the functional and formal intentions behind the design, as illustrated below:
FUNCTIONAL AIMS OF THE STRUCTURE
To relate to the needs of the children in their environment
To express protection and growth
To increase awareness of shape, colour, texture, light and space
To enhance imaginative play
To foster numerical and geometrical interest
To be used as a stage set for outdoor drama
A seating arrangement for watching games
To accommodate the children as a play tree house
FORMAL AIMS OF THE STRUCTURE
To be an architectural figuration which contains an open ended space within it
Horizontal plane which make up diagonals and curves supported by interrelating verticals
The form to be enhanced by light which would fall through it as well as over it
The volume made more evident by the space within it
The mass penetrated by light and space