Artwork Details
- Title
- Milkweed Pod
- Artist
- Clark B. Fitz-Gerald (1917-2004)
- Year
- 1965
- Medium
- Copper and stainless steel
- Dimensions
- Height 21'
Artwork Description
When the chemical firm Rohm and Haas erected a new headquarters in the Independence Mall area, Clark B. Fitz-Gerald was commissioned to create a sculpture for the courtyard through the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority’s Percent for Art Program, which had just been established in 1959. Milkweed Pod was one of the first examples of the program’s effect on the city environment.
A native of St. Louis, Clark Fitz-Gerald studied at Washington University and the Philadelphia Museum and School of Industrial Art (which later became the University of the Arts). His Milkweed Pod, which sits in a fountain, combines a natural image – the release of milkweed into a breeze – with formal, geometric elements. The bright stainless steel seeds contrast with the weathered green copper pod.
In recent years, the courtyard has become the site of a popular summer beer garden designed by Groundswell Design Group.
Content on this page was adapted from Public Art in Philadelphia by Penny Balkin Bach (Temple University Press, 1992). Bach was the longtime Executive Director of the Association for Public Art, working with the organization from 1980 to 2022.
Artwork Credits
Commissioned through the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority’s Percent for Art Program