Silver Mylar

Silver Mylar, 1969
Priscilla Kepner Sage (American, b. 1936)
Silver mylar fabric, fiber, and metal
Gift of the artist and Charles Sage. In the Art on Campus Collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. U2012.362

Priscilla Sage wrote of the processes of thinking and experimentation that led up to this sculpture, a pivotal work that inaugurated a series of hanging mylar sculptures:

“After a decade of using natural materials, my delight in the discovery of shiny fabrics seemed almost indecent. They suggested light dancing on water or the ice of northern lakes. In Mylar, light plays on the shiny silver surface and a column of silver metallic threads shower through the core of the circular form to touch the floor. The power of the sculpture lies in that shower in the center.

The work had finally flown off the wall and, with the help of an armature, I was able to engineer a sculpture suspended from one point. In Mylar, many separate parts combine to create one form. It was difficult to turn the intricate shapes cleanly, so the parts are wrapped. Silver metal washers hang in the piece, making gentle music as they touch. This is a critical sculpture from this time, leading to more suspended works of art later on.” (Sage)

-Dr. Emily Morgan