MUSEUM CAMPUS — Visitors through the Field Museum's south entrance will now be greeted by eight massive, curvy black sculptures scattered along its steps.
Sculpted from bronze by famed jazz musician and visual artist Herb Alpert, the formless "Spirit Totems" range between 13 and 18 feet tall. Painted black, the totems were described by a Field Museum news release as "solid smoke."
To design the sculptures, Alpert started with 10-inch wax figurines, then re-created them as 3-foot clay models. Then, he said, he decided which pieces had a "monumental look to them" and had them cast in bronze.
Alpert said he was inspired by indigenous-crafted totem poles during a 2000 trip to the Pacific Northwest. But his "Spirit Totems," are not a direct imitation, he said, but a "jazz takeoff" of the cultural artifacts.
"There's a really improvisational look to all these pieces that I think is obvious," Alpert said. "And that's the beauty of art. It's a mystery. If you try to think about it you'll lose the feeling, but if you go with your heart, it resonates."
The installation will be on display until September 2016, according to a museum spokesman.
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