Each day, thousands of visitors — and longtime residents — cruise past this visual gateway leading into Charlotte Douglas
International Airport. Here’s what you may not know about the soaring sculpture.
by Michael J. Solender
Just off Billy Graham Parkway, Ascendus is a 60-foot steel, aluminum and laminated glass sculpture created by Portland, Oregon-based Ed Carpenter. The sculpture was commissioned by Charlotte’s Arts & Science Council (ASC) in collaboration with the city and airport in 2012.
With its pointed, angular shape and precarious angle to the ground, Ascendus evokes motion, flight, and, as its name suggests, ascent.
Carpenter worked with local steel fabricator SteelFab on his creation, which is illuminated by 54 LED floodlights embedded within the sculpture. The work’s colorful glass glows with yellow, green, red, blue and bright white light, yielding extraordinary twilight and nighttime views. As part of Carpenter’s design, color shades shift as viewers observe the work from a moving vehicle.
During the installation, Carpenter remarked on his affinity for the site. “There’s this beautiful background of green trees,” the artist said in a video made for ASC, commenting on the mounded natural area off the exit. “There are no billboards, and the site is a fine one to offset the sculpture and serve as a counterpoint to the soft, dark trees with the crispness and shininess of the work. To me, this is wonderful.”
We think so, too. SP
Photographs by Mitchell Kearney
