PLATTE VALLEY TIME VANES
Gateway sculptures on a new freeway viaduct into downtown
Denver, Colorado
The “Time Vanes” project consists of 6 site responsive entry monuments on a primary thoroughfare into downtown Denver. Just as wind vanes tell the direction of the wind, these monumental gateway elements tell the direction of the times in Denver’s history.
In 1996 the City of Denver completed a new freeway viaduct over the historic Platte Valley into the downtown area. If you were able to stand on the viaduct and see back through time, you would have a significant perspective on the history of Denver and the West. The Platte Valley is the birthplace of Denver and the location of its first official settlement called Denver City. Before that time this was a natural stopping point for adventurers heading west into the Rocky Mountains, and before then it was a principal area for encampments of Arapahoe and Cheyenne Indians.
The first “Time Vane” looks back more than 200 years to honor the Native American presence in the region. From there the sculptures take a timeline approach to representing Denver history. The second piece acknowledges the influence of the railroads during the prosperous silver boom of the 1880’s and ‘90’s. Coming forward another half-century, the third “Time Vane” reflects upon the visionary programs of Denver’s Mayor Speer, who launched the local “City Beautiful” movement and established Denver as an energy center for the West. The fourth piece in the timeline looks into the future of the Valley, acknowledging the region’s growing technological significance as the nation’s “optical valley”.
Those first 4 pieces tell a story about salient aspects of the times in the Platte Valley. The last two, at the other end of the Viaduct, look at attitudes about time itself. Although more abstract than the others, they also address major issues for the Valley - transportation, the movement of goods and people, and land use. While making broad references to these concerns, they deal specifically with attitudes about time. One of them suggests a wheel-like movement that it measured and clock like - man-made. The other presents a sweeping motion like that of a sundial - continuous, flowing, and natural. This last “Time Vane” is recognition of man’s debt to nature, revealing that essential human rhythms are essentially celestial.
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