Public Artwork Installed in Lobby of Champions Hall

One of three "meteorites" in a new campus sculpture.

The cobalt "meteorite" awaiting flight.

Marc Mitchell, director of exhibitions, adds bubblewrap to protect one of the meteorites before lifting it into place.

Carefully placing the meteorite on a lift.

Artist Carson Fox, left, and Jill Anthes, campus planner, check the meteorite height from outside.

Setting a guy wire for the meteorite.

Finding the right elevation.

"Crystal Meteor Shower," in the lobby of Champions Hall.

Photos by Charlie Alison, University Relations

Carson Fox and one piece of her sculpture.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Carson Fox collected rocks as a kid and was fascinated by the turn of a stone to see what was hidden. “I always wondered what lay under this surface,” she said. “The more you look, the more interesting things are.”

The same could be said of her sculpture, which draws the view from one crystal facet to another the way that one wave on the blue sea lulls the eye into watching more and more waves.

“I wanted it to feel like some fantasy meteor shower,” she said. In fact, the installation is titled Crystal Meteorite Shower.

Each individual “crystal” on each globe was cast separately using various blue pigments and resins, and then each was added to an armature with a shell with steel cables through it.

Carson, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, had a chance to see the lobby space of Champions Hall and thought that blue would work well against the other colors of the lobby and especially the natural wood of the ceiling. Her three meteorites span the blues from cobalt to aquamarine.

Many of the crystal-like facets of the globes are translucent, so the light pouring into the lobby brings out pigments in the resins in different ways at different times of the day.

“It’s fun stuff,” said Carson. But not all fun: she had to set aside other work and keep her focus on the "meteor" project because of the short timeframe. By Thursday, though, her work was nearly done. Just a day-long exercise in thwarting gravity.

Three workers for Nabholz Construction, the contractor for Champions Hall, raised the orbs into place using lifts and then hung them with steel cable before removing the lifts.