Artwork copyright Nanci Pitkethly. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Free Fall, 1991

Nanci Pitkethly
(American, born 1956)

Location: Shoreline School District, Shoreline

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Free Fall is a mixed media sculpture created by artist Nanci Pitkethly. It is part of her "Open Air Series" of clocks concerned with ideas about atmosphere, pollution, and the environment. She notes, "The notion that there exists a hole in the Ozone layer, and that a piece of the sky is missing, was what led me to think about this opening above us and our world. What will come through that opening? What will become of life on earth because of that opening?" She continues, "I believe that life is a series of cycles, wheels within wheels, some intermeshing, some spinning alone, always moving and endlessly repeating some unknown function…. If even one small piece of any part of the entire life cycle is removed or harmed, it in turn changes or causes changes within the cycle."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Shoreline School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Seattle-based artist Nanci Pitkethly creates mixed media sculptures. Born in Washington D.C., she moved to the west coast as a young child. She received a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in metalworking and jewelry from Arizona State University in Tempe. She received a Master of Fine Arts degree in metal design from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1989.