Bower, 2025

Carin Mincemoyer

Artwork Location: Posner Tower Atrium
Materials: Painted aluminum, stainless steel cables

When the artist was researching concepts for this sculpture, she spent time exploring the UPMC Shadyside gardens. She noted how the trees and plants created a gracious and welcoming entrance to the hospital.

Her suspended sculpture brings the garden indoors. Looking up in the atrium, imagine the lines created by the skylight framework are architectural tree branches, spreading out from the center. The artist emphasizes this element by hanging sculptural branches to create a bower—a leafy, shady shelter under trees.

To develop her concept, the artist took photographs of the garden trees. Included here are Japanese maple, beech, cherry, spruce, cypress, Kousa dogwood, red oak, and magnolia. The photographs were used to create silhouettes of different branches. Those images were then cut out of aluminum. She selected an array of spring greens and yellows, and hand-painted every piece.

Each suspended element is a unique combination of branches. Notice how a few of the smaller branches gently turn. Those pieces are attached to hardware that allows them to move with the air currents in the atrium, mimicking spring breezes in the garden.

Commissioned by UPMC with generous support from the Shadyside Hospital Foundation

_{When people arrive at the hospital, they move through an atrium that features a suspended sculpture. The artwork brings the shapes of the trees in the garden painted in vibrant spring colors indoors to foster a welcoming atmosphere. Photo by Sean Carroll.}

_{The artwork reinforces the design of the skylight – notice how it looks like branches connected to a tree trunk. Photo by Carin Mincemoyer.}

_{The artist hand-painted each of the branches in her studio. She chose vibrant spring colors.}

_{The artist assembled each of the branches in her studio and suspended them from the ceiling.}

_{She refined each composition before delivering the artwork to the hospital. Photo by Elan Mizrahi.}

_{The artist met with UPMC’s senior interior designer to confirm the final layout of the artwork.}

_{To find the exact attachment points of each branch in the atrium, the artist created a template of the ceiling on the floor and then used a laser to identify the exact locations.}

_{The artist and her team worked together over the course of several nights to install the artwork using a lift. In this photo, they are watching the first branch being suspended from the skylight.}

_{Artwork complete. On the last night of the installation, the team viewed the sculpture from the garden and reflected on how beautiful it is to see the colorful branches framed by the windows.}

Learn more about artist Carin Mincemoyer.