This 10-foot-high sculpture, titled Figure, by artist Barbara McCarren has many meanings and is designed to be explored from various perspectives—culturally, historically and scientifically. At first glance, the form of the sculpture is a three-dimensional figure 8. Its placement, however, at a slight angle off perpendicular to the ground, references the infinity symbol. The sculpture features typographical cutouts of characters, dates, coordinates, text and numbers of significance to Rowland Heights, such as: important years in the 19th century history of the community; the Chinese character for fullness and prosperity; “Eureka,” the California State motto; “one thousand ten thousand years” in Korean to convey eternality; the word “ocho” meaning “eight” in Spanish; and the longitudinal and latitudinal coordinates for Rowland Heights. By featuring information specific to the region along with universal symbols, the sculpture attempts to connect Rowland Heights’ past, present and future with limitless possibility and good luck.
To create the artwork, fabricators laser cut the text, numbers and symbols out of strips of stainless steel. After welding the pieces together, the stainless-steel sculpture was “bead blasted,” a finishing technique that creates a matte finish. Long lasting LED lights create a soft glow through the bands of cutout letters and icons.

Barbara McCarren received a BA in Fine Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles and an MFA from the University of Southern California. Jud Fine has an MFA from Cornell University and his BA from UC Santa Barbara. They have completed artwork for numerous public agencies throughout California including the Cities of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Huntington Beach and the San Francisco Arts Commission.