Pyxis

Pyxis, 1981

Chicago Fire Department Station 16

4900 West Chicago Avenue at Lamon Street

            A blue enamel aluminum plate sculpture, measuring 24 feet high with a 32-foot long cantilevered extension terminating in a sunken courtyard, Pyxis is a site-specific design that originally offered a dramatic visual contrast to the red steel façade of the fire station. The wall is no longer red but the work still soars and enlivens the environment. Sculptor Bruce White prefers working with steel and aluminum for his large public works and Pyxis demonstrates his interest in careful designs that achieve supporting strength through surface geometry rather than internal framing. White was a professor of sculpture at Northern Illinois University from 1967-1996 and his work Aurora I from 1979 was the first direct purchase by the State of Illinois Art-in-Architecture program. It is now located on the campus of the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.