Client: City of Scottsdale

Overview

Barbara Grygutis’ sculpture, “Breakaway”, created for Scottsdale Public Art, is a signature light-featured public art installation that serves as a unique gateway to Scottsdale Civic Center and Old Town Scottsdale via the Drinkwater Boulevard underpass.  Breakaway incorporates a cast-aluminum bas-relief rope sculpture with turquoise-painted walls spanning the east and west sides of the more than 300-foot-long underpass.

Grygutis states, “Breakaway, as a work of art, seeks to translate this everyday iconography into contemporary, lyrical, and visually exciting imagery: constraint, freedom, immersion in tradition, and a breakaway into a new future.”

The artist continued, “Rope, the twisting together of fibers into a sturdy unified length, is evocative. Entering the cultural center of Scottsdale through the Drinkwater Underpass, ’Breakaway’ provides viewers a tool to reflect on the many strands of influence needed to fortify a contemporary culture within a community.”

Goals

In 2019, construction occurred to repair the aging infrastructure of the Drinkwater underpass and Civic Center in Scottsdale, Arizona, creating an opportunity to install public art. The city and Scottsdale Arts felt it essential to develop an iconic underpass public art installation for Drinkwater Boulevard to establish a visual connection to the Civic Center in conjunction with the site's renovation.

Since there is no pedestrian access to the site, the piece needed to be expansive and noticeable enough to be viewed by drivers at 35 mph day and night. Grygutis filled each side with the more than 300-foot-long sculpture, an eight-inch rope that twists and turns the entire length of the underpass. The turquoise-painted background, inspired by the turquoise stone, helps to highlight the brushed aluminum sculpture. The piece is also raised on the walls, at its lowest point, 7–8 feet from the ground, creating the highest visibility for passing vehicles. Finally, the artwork is highlighted by two light fixtures at each knot. 

Process

Barbara Grygutis was chosen through an RFQ artist call with an artist selection panel.  She visited the site and spoke with stakeholders to understand what was needed for the location. At her studio, she conceived the concept and created the renderings of the rope design. She was inspired by the rope design to symbolize “... a common, universal, simple everyday object that has meaning to many people. You might see Rope as a metaphor for rodeo, or you might see rope as I do, as a metaphor for life, many individual strands woven together to make one whole strand.” This design was then sent to a facility for 3-D rendering and 3-D modeling through rapid prototyping. It took multiple proofs to get the rope's final design- considering the engineering of attaching it to the wall, making it as flat as possible but dimensional enough to look like an eight-inch-thick overlapping rope. "Breakaway" was then molded and cast in aluminum by Bollinger Atelier. Multiple pieces of the rope sculpture required assembly, cleaning, and finishing. Skilled artisans completed each step by hand. The resulting artwork includes two 300-foot lengths on both sides of the underpass, totaling 600 feet of rope connecting Scottsdale’s past and present.