Going to the beach is one of this season’s finest luxuries, and enjoying Minnesota lakes tops my own “Best Way to Spend a Summer Day” list. When I visit one of the coasts—east, west or north—
I am fascinated by waves. I love to watch Lake Superior crash against the rocks … or feel the gentle lift and fall as I wade into the ocean … or follow the build of the sea and then its sudden break, spilling on the sand. It’s mesmerizing to watch waves constantly change, grow, splash and disappear, over and over.
Guests to the Edina Senior Center don’t have to travel to the coast to appreciate the mesmerizing magic of waves. Thanks to generous donations from Edina seniors and the Edina Community Foundation, David Wight’s glass sculpture, The Wave, is in Edina’s public art collection and is on display in the center’s entryway.
Wight, an artist in Bellingham, Washington, is renowned for his wave art. He attended Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle and made glass sculptures for 15 years before he created his first wave, which is now his primary subject. As the titles of his artworks demonstrate, he explores all aspects of this moving water: Crescendo, Tsunami, Water Dance, Neptune, Spring Water Champagne.
The Wave features deep cobalt blue and clear glass and captures one moment of a dynamic swell, preserving its ephemerality in the solid and permanent material of glass. Wight’s sculptures begin as molten liquid, but each unique sculpture soon loses its own fluidity to commemorate forever one instant in the spontaneous life of a wave. Portraying the grace and rejuvenation of water, Wight reminds us how rapidly natural beauty can change—waves transform immediately, vanishing as quickly as they appear. The Wave at the Edina Senior Center keeps our best beach memories bright and active, all year long.
Contributed by Laura Westlund, a tour guide at the Weisman Art Museum and an art hound for Minnesota Public Radio.
