Two Lines Variable - Thirty Feet

George Rickey, American, b. 1907
Two Lines Variable - Thirty Feet
stainless steel, 1988
Gift of Nancy Peters Ryan (Penn, Class of 1961)
and Richard J. Ryan

Two Lines is a sculpture that moves and changes over time. Walk slowly around it, viewing it at close range and from a distance. What images does it call to mind -- clock hands, scissors, chopsticks, a bird's beak? Internationally celebrated artist George Rickey enticed nature to collaborate with him in Two Lines. He enlivened the stainless steel surfaces with a merry scribble to catch and reflect sunlight. The tapering blades enlist the wind's random currents to drive them around in a stately motion. Two Lines occupies the site where the Arboretum's founders, John and Lydia Morris, once lived in a Victorian mansion. Dedicated in 1993 to the wonder of children and to the vision of Dr. William McKinley Klein, Jr., Director of the Morris Arboretum, 1977-91.