This year’s Closing General Session will combine ICMA’s annual Celebration of Service to the Profession with a presentation by artist Janet Echelman, who reshapes urban airspace by building living, breathing sculpture environments that respond to the forces of nature—wind, water, and light—and become inviting focal points for civic life. One of her best known works, “Her Secret is Patience,” spans two city blocks in downtown Phoenix.

Echelman transforms urban space by creating voluptuous billowing sculpture as counterpoint to hard-edged cityscape. Exploring the potential of unlikely materials, from fishing net to atomized water particles, Echelman combines ancient craft with cutting-edge technology to create her permanent sculpture at the scale of buildings. Experiential in nature, the result is sculpture that shifts from being an object you look at, to something you can get lost in.

Janet Echelman’s conference-closing presentation will focus on the important role that public art can play in reimagining public spaces and revitalizing communities and offer creative solutions to accomplish public art in a time of declining resources.

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