50-foot sculpture at Scottsdale roundabout added to city’s public art collection

PHOENIX — The City of Scottsdale this week unveiled a 50-foot steel sculpture at a roundabout in north Scottsdale.

The artwork, created by internationally-recognized artist Phillip K. Smith III, is a painted steel sculpture located within the traffic circle at the intersection of Raintree Drive and Hayden Road.

Named “TRI-HEX-CIRC,” the vertical sculpture geometrically transforms from a circle at its base to a hexagon in the middle to a triangle at the top.

“I hope that ‘TRI-HEX-CIRC’ becomes a visual icon for this part of north Scottsdale — a feeling that you know where you are when you see it,” Smith said in a press release. 

Scottsdale Public Art, part of the nonprofit Scottsdale Arts, commissioned Smith for the project on behalf of the City of Scottsdale. 

“It’s exciting to have an artist of Smith’s caliber in our collection because then it brings national and international attention to local artists and helps support their careers as well,” Kati Ballares, the director of Scottsdale Public Art, said in the release. “It’s important to have a public art program that has a balance of both international artists and local artists.”

Smith is a trained architect and practicing artist. While his work is predominantly based in object-making, it also incorporates the environment. 

“TRI-HEX-CIRC” engages with the movement of the sun throughout the day to create an ever-shifting light and shadow icon.

“You drive by in the morning going to work, and it’s going to be a different color than when you drive by at night when you’re driving home,” Tanya Galin, the public art manager for Scottsdale Public Art, said in the release. “I love that it represents the surrounding area; it reflects the environment. That’s what I appreciate about the piece. I like that it’s public art in an unexpected place.”