As spiraling sunlight falls on Woods Quad, the rays reflect off a newly placed sculpture created by Lindsay Lindsey.
The sculpture began as a part of a project among the engineering, interior design and sculpture departments, where teams of students created projects to bring light to an area of campus. Lindsey said Shelby Hall helped inspire the sculpture, with its abundant light and scientific focus.
“I wanted to develop a sculpture that also reflected the scientific nature of the complex and decided on a three-dimensional Fibonacci Spiral based off of the Fibonacci sequence,” said Lindsey, a 2012 University of Alabama aluma.“After the semester and that collaboration ended, I continued to work on the idea of the sculpture.”
During Lindsey’s undergraduate career, she majored in studio art with a sculpture concentration and minored in biology, the Computer-Based Honors Program and the Blount Undergraduate Initiative.
“When people hear about my studies, they often think they don’t go together,” Lindsey said. “However, to me, they are very interconnected.”
Lindsey said despite the apparent dissonance between her fields of study, they have actually worked well together for her. She is currently applying to medical schools.
“This major has trained me to think three-dimensionally and do major problem solving, both in my head and in practice,” Lindsey said. “I believe this will help me very much if I do eventually decide to follow a reconstructive path. I noticed a lot of overlap with art and my biology minor.”
Lindsey created several models and eventually obtained funding from then-provost Judy Bonner for the Fibonacci Project.
Construction of the stainless steel sculpture began in fall 2010, though drawings were drafted earlier.
Besides the sculpture, the Fibonacci Project includes a field day for elementary students that will take place this spring.
“What I hope is that seeing some of the cool things they can do in college will encourage the children to set goals now to go to college,” Lindsey said.
The new sculpture has already won the attention of students.
“This is now my favorite,” Chelsea Brown, a senior majoring in psychology, said of the Fibonacci-inspired sculpture. “The tin man was originally my favorite. This one’s my favorite now because it’s shiny.”
The spiral is now a cornerstone of the Woods Quad sculpture garden.
“It’s a really interesting piece, I just wish they had more art,” Ashton Huggins, a junior majoring in psychology, said.
“I think it’s great that it’s out here,” Huggins said. “I know a lot of students come in, and this is my favorite part of campus.”
The Woods Quad sculpture garden stands as a physical representation of art on campus.
“I feel like there’s a great need for the arts,” Huggins said. “I feel like people try to bypass the arts a lot of times. I think that having this area shows how we are incorporating more of the arts into our university, and as a whole, that’s going to make it more diverse and interesting.”
