Title

Energy Alignment Sculpture: Pyramid in the Golden Section

Artist

Beardslee, Louis Bridge

Date

1976

Medium

steel

Type

sculpture

Dimensions

3.05m height x 4.88m width

Owner

SFU Art Collection

Accession Number

NA

Location

Simon Fraser University, Academic Quadrangle

Category

SFU Art Collection

Collection

Public Art

Lat/Long

49.27947957305704,-122.91673879035986

View in Google Maps

http://www.google.com/maps?q=49.27947957305704,-122.91673879035986

Produced for an exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery and installed at SFU in 1977, Beardslee’s pyramid — an open, tubular steel frame painted cerulean blue — is carefully positioned to align with the rotation of the earth’s axis and the North Star. In both form and spirit, Beardslee’s sculpture is an apt compliment to the adjacent mounded earth pyramid designed by architect Arthur Erickson. Both pyramids were built to resemble the proportions of the Cheops pyramid in Egypt. In its early years the sculpture attracted unlikely controversy. A debate regarding the correct position required to activate the pyramid’s “power” played out in the pages of the student newspaper and students, saw fit on several occasions to “realign” the pyramid — setting it on top of Erickson’s mounded earth pyramid and the previous student union building for example, before it was cemented in its current location. The pyramid was donated to SFU by Ian Davidson in 1977. This work is part of the Simon Fraser University Art Collection. The SFU Art Collection contains over 5,800 works. Approximately 1,000 works of art are shown throughout the campus and integrated in public, administrative and common learning spaces. A selection of the most accessible in this diverse repository are incorporated into the City of Burnaby Public Art Registry. For more extensive information about the holdings at SFU, visit: https://www.sfu.ca/galleries/Collections.html (text provided by SFU)

Louis Bridge Beardslee III created architectural features internationally for many years for private corporate clients utilizing unique casting processes. This led to an interest in conceptual art involving universities and museums. Mr. Beardslee now lives in a semi-tropical oasis in southern New Mexico.