A Flight of Tetrahedra

Standing near the shore of a large pond, the sculpture looks poised for flight. Consisting of an overlapping array of eight tetrahedra, half painted black and half white, it slants steeply into the sky.

The alternating colors and triangular surfaces remind me of the Canada geese that strut nearby, unfolding their wings before they take flight and gather into their ragged V-formations.

Titled Repetitive Graduation and fabricated from painted steel, the large piece was created by Scott Mihalik, a student at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. Installed in the fall of 2011 as part of a "Sculpture on Campus" program, the artwork stands on the shore opposite the Coggin College of Business.

With this sculpture, Mihalik joins a number of artists who have taken advantage of the visual surprises that, with its sharp angles and four triangular faces, a tetrahedral form offers (see "A Tetrahedral Forest" and "Three Sentinels").

Photos by I. Peterson