The Alluvial Mirror from the collection of Arts New Orleans

The Alluvial Mirror, 2021

Mixed Media

Location: New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center Pedestrian Park New Orleans, LA 70130 (Google map)

The Alluvial Mirror merges two primary inspirations. The form was initially influenced by the sculptural gesture of a trumpet’s bell standing upright and reflecting the immediate surroundings on its polished surface. The intentional reference to New Orleans’ music culture is captured in the mirrored perspective of the instrument that allows for artistic expression.

The name of this magnificent piece is a nod to the pedestrian park’s historic location on the river front, where a sandy beach once naturally formed due to the river’s alluvium. (Alluvial derives from the Latin alluvium, which means a deposit of sand, mud, etc., formed by flowing water.) The Alluvial Mirror’s shape was influenced by a trumpet’s bell standing upright and reflecting the immediate surroundings on its polished surface. Enjoy some of the soul of New Orleans as you take in this outstanding artwork.

With a striking design and a prominent location at the entrance of the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the Alluvial Mirror will serve as a beacon for the thousands of visitors who come to the Crescent City to enrich their lives at a conference, trade show, competition, civic endeavor or social experience.

Additionally, the geography New Orleans and the Mississippi River compelled Marold to divide and spread the form, and to engage the energy of this particular riverside site. The alluvium of the river and its material deposits are complemented by the New Orleans community and the culture that has developed, transformed, and established itself over centuries.

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About the artist

Patrick Marold

b. 1975

Denver native Patrick Marold has been working to bind the physical environment with our sense of orientation for more than two decades. Since earning a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 1997, his artistic development has maintained an intimate connection to landscape. Refinement of his practice has been pursued in various locations in America and abroad, including opportunities like that of his early Fulbright Fellowship in Iceland where he began to more fully direct his energies to creating works which utilize spatial dynamics to generate an enhanced awareness of light and movement. Exhibiting widely in galleries and museums, he has earned multiple awards and recognition for his studio works as well as his publicly sited projects.

In 2007, Marold received international attention for The Windmill Project, a temporary landscape installation in Vail, Colorado, which seeded a local valley with a mass of light-generating turbines committed to capturing and visualizing the choreography of the wind through a unique landscape. In the last decade he has completed numerous public commissions including the 7 acre installation, Shadow Array, at Denver’s International Airport; as well as the sky and sound work, Solar Drones, located in Canada’s National Music Centre. Diversity in setting, scale, and technical realization have equipped him with the skill and interest to apply his vision across a broad range of sites while preserving a unity of vision.

Marold maintains a studio in Colorado, and continues working to refine specific relationships with space, inviting the viewer to consider specific conditions of landscapes and materials, and their impact on personal and communal perception.

Additional Details

About the artist

Patrick Marold