1985 | ‘Family Ties’ Granite Sculpture
Visionary developer and believer in the importance of community and urban renewal, James W. Rouse, created the planned community of Columbia, Maryland, in 1963. His goal for the city was to create a, “…garden for the growing of people.” This kind of big thinking matched well with Don’s beliefs about the power of making spaces that consider the needs of people and their environment.
Just more than twenty years into the Columbia community’s existence, Don was commissioned to create an outdoor public sculpture for it. He designed and installed a granite sculpture with the primary figure standing at twenty feet tall and weighing eighteen tons. He was serious about giving this community something so substantial it could reach down like a taproot and stand for the growth of kinship and connection.
Don said of the sculpture at the time, “This monumental piece of granite sculpture expresses my interest in the use of art and design as a vehicle of social communication. Columbia is a planned city of about 25,000 people and no building is older than 27 years old. I wanted the timeless, archaic material and imagery to bring a quality of rootedness to this place.” –D.A.S.
The Columbia community today is at more than 100,000 people. Don’s figures still stand as sentinels for people to gather around and recognize as a handmade marker of their home.
