Fluid Dynamics

Fluid Dynamics. . The public art installation behind you (to the south of Patterson Commons) was created by Jon Barlow Hudson and is called Fluid Dynamics., About the Artist , Jon Barlow Hudson is an internationally recognized sculptor who studied at the Dayton Art Institute, the California Institute of the Arts, the Stuttgart State Academy of Art, and Urbana College. Working from his studio in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Jon has created large-scale public sculptures for locations around the world. Jon works in granite, marble, stainless steel, bronze and aluminum., About Fluid Dynamics , Jon created Fluid Dynamics from power coated aluminum. Of this sculpture Jon says:, "Fluid Dynamics embodies in sculptural form my interpretation of flow in nature. This flow is seen in a multitude of areas: from the vortex in water or in a tree trunk, in swirls and eddies in flowing water, in dust devils in the air and clouds, in the spiral nebula, in the veining of marble and granite and more. Fluid Dynamics fits its site, once the bed of the Miami Erie Canal, a place where flowing water brought development to the young city and where today aerodynamically designed vehicles drive by, and fly overhead, creating vortexes in the air. For me the sculpture speaks of Dayton's past at the junction of the Miami, Mad, and Stillwater Rivers, of its engineers who mastered the aerodynamics of flight, hydraulics, aeronautics, propulsion and of its present, atop rich, flowing aquifers. Through the sculpture, I look to a future of continuously flowing creative energy from the citizens of greater Dayton.", The work was fabricated by Commercial Metal Fabricators, a Dayton company. Architectural modeling and construction documents for the work were created by Dayton architectural firm LWC Incorporated., Fluid Dynamics is a gift from the Pflaum family in memory of George A. Pflaum (1858-1907), George A. Pflaum, Sr. (1903-1963), and George A. Pflaum, Jr (1932-1981). All were born, raised, and worked in or near downtown Dayton. Offices of the family business, George A. Pflaum, Publisher, Inc. were located in downtown Dayton. From the Pflaum offices flowed a variety of nationally distributed teaching materials including books, weekly publications for young people, and magazines for teachers.