The Scope at Beacon Bluff is a permanent public art piece that will become a highly visible marker for the former 3M campus area and symbolize its rebirth from historic roots. It is the creative vision of East Side artist Philip Blackburn in collaboration with the St. Paul Port Authority and the East Side Arts Council. Beacon Bluff is a 46-acre industrial site bordering East 7th Street, Mendota and Minnehaha Ave in East St. Now a diverse neighborhood with high poverty rates, it served as the headquarters of 3M Company from 1910 to 1962 and occupies a significant place in Minnesota history as a birthplace of innovation (notably the invention of sandpaper and Scotch tape among hundreds of other important inventions). Paul Port Authority is revitalizing the area by developing it as a ‘Next Generation’ green business center that provides jobs for the future and serves as a nationally significant best-practices model. The central area of the development — prominent as a gathering spot for hundreds of employees and visitors daily — is the Hub. This zone houses interpretive elements about the site’s history, novel water treatment methods, and the innovative, environmentally-friendly technologies used. It will serve as a gathering area for the low-income health care facility and for the other businesses being established there. In the absence of an existing ‘beacon’ at Beacon Bluff, Philip Blackburn proposed to create one. The Scope is visible from a distance and reveals more as visitors approach – alive with movement and light. It celebrates the enduring legacy of 3M as a place for innovation and novel ways of seeing the world. The Scope takes the form of a 22’ tall kaleidoscope with three internal stainless steel mirrors, at the top of which are spinning fascinators moved by the wind. These are what bring the traditional kaleidoscope into the future: 3M dichroic glass film elements that reflect different colors when seen at different angles. And what allows a viewer to see multiple viewpoints at the same instant? Simple kaleidoscope technology, whose reflections bounce off multiple surfaces before reaching the eye. Thus the same glass piece generates multiple shades, colors and reflections as it moves in the mercurial rhythm of the wind. Nature meets tech in elegant simplicity, with all the elements in a dance together. A bizarre, wonderful, poetic place to discover and revisit many times. You might even ponder new energy sources and ponder the nature of creativity that sparks and spirals from unexpected origins. As a whole, this is an alternative beacon for the future: part lighthouse, bell tower, giant plant with stalks and tendrils, water tower, crucible for ideas, bonfire with a message, science experiment, executive toy, and weather vane — familiar in shape, novel in function, reflective of its living surroundings and history of the site. It echoes the former 3M water tower that once dominated the neighborhood. As a beacon it does not shine light beams outward. Rather it takes light, motion and energy from the surrounding neighborhood and transmutes them into ever-changing patterns visible from a distance as well as from underneath gazing up to the sky and clouds. The landscaping takes the form of a modified eyeball, again emphasizing the visionary nature of the place. Materials salvaged from the original site are being reused in novel ways: unique concrete bricks form the base of the three support legs, and Art Deco era stainless steel stair railings (replete with their original wall brackets) are being fashioned into a bench from which to view the Hub and the Scope. Funding for the Scope has come from the St. Paul Port Authority, McKnight Foundation, and Metro Regional Arts Council, with product donations from 3M. The Scope is being fabricated by Rob Stafford (staffordinstall.com) and Jeff Lohaus (lohaus.com). Key project participants:
Monte Hilleman, Vice President of Redevelopment, Saint Paul Port Authority
Sarah Fehr, Executive Director East Side Arts Council
Eric Beazley, SRF Consulting
Hadi Sajadi, Hadi and Structures
Chris Krumm, Tropostudio
Robert Kaiser
Robert Wahlstrom
Jeff Shopek, Loucks Associates
Chad Lockwood, Loucks Associates
Doug Loken, Loucks Associates
Chris Braun, Beacon Management
Gita Ghei, artist
Ryan Maus, scuffer
