Drawn Together

Completion: 2024

Location: TIAA Headquarters, Frisco, TX

Description: Drawn Together features two raised hands in the process of joining together in solidarity, recalling the configuration of empowered hands in social justice themed posters, murals, photography, and other visual art forms. Also, the sculptural pose evokes students raising their hands in class asking a question or volunteering to be involved in an activity. The artwork is inspired by the subjects most important to TIAA - sustainability, climate change, racial inequity, and community involvement, and poetically interconnecting them to create a singular, iconic sculptural expression. 

The monumental hands are made of a sculptural assemblage of stainless steel pipes that are “coped” artistically—cut on a diagonal—to reveal the interior of each pipe, which is painted with assorted colors. Capturing the formal beauty of the striations of color presented in a set of colored pencils, the sculpture suggests that the hands were carved from a large group of unsharpened colored pencils vertically fused together. The selected colors are based on earth tones found in the landscape-inspired building interior and colored pencil sets that feature multiracial skin tones. The interweaving of colors celebrates the connection between culture, society, and the natural world.

Design Optimization/Management: METALAB

Photography: Wade Griffith