In earlier posts about David Phillips’ art, I noted his collaboration with Halverson Design, but here I’ll let it shape my perspective with quotes from Cambridge Public Art resources about this park that opened in 1997 near Harvard Square.

“In a truly collaborative design, sculptor David Phillips and landscape architect Craig Halvorson transformed an intersection previously used for bus parking into a city park. The park includes fieldstones with bronze inlays, artist designed wrought-iron fence, pavings, and beds of flowers.” (quote from Cambridge Public Art Fact Sheet for Quincy Square)

“This artwork is a whole park! It can be explored in many ways. It invites us to stop and meditate or just rest and enjoy being outside. In transforming this former bus parking lot into a park, the artist had a lot to consider: the shape and size of the site, its different zones and the kinds of plants used in its landscaping. A landscape architect was responsible for the site’s plantings and landforms.”(quote from Cambridge Public Art Activity Guide for Spiral Quincy Square)

“Josiah Quincy (1772-1864) was President of Harvard University from January 29, 1829 to August 27, 1845. He was also a politician, serving as a Federalist congressman, Boston mayor, Massachusetts municipal court judge, and Massachusetts state representative and state senator.” ( quote from biography of Josiah Quincy in Harvard Square Library)

Though my awareness of the full features of this space had developed at a snail’s pace for more than twenty years, at last I leaped at the chance to recognize them. In case you can visit the real place, go to where Quincy Street, Harvard Street and Massachusetts Ave intersect in Cambridge. Art, nature, science, history, math and much more continue intersecting there.