ELK GROVE, CA - The Elk Grove City Council approved a public art piece for its soon-to-be relocated Elk Grove Public Library at its Wednesday, Jan. 22 meeting. The council voted unanimously to approve the contract with Maine-based artist Aaron T. Stephan to construct his piece, “Radiant Eddy,” in honor of Harriet Eddy, the woman who founded the first library in Elk Grove at Elk Grove High School. The branch eventually became the first County of Sacramento library branch in 1908. Eddy also served as the first female principal at Elk Grove High School. “He really wanted to acknowledge that in this piece,” said Shelly Willis, executive director of the Sacramento Metropolitan Public Arts Commission. The piece features 30 streetlights, twisted into a spiral, like the ones that can be found around Old Elk Grove. The piece is 12 feet tall at its highest point and will sit on a 17-foot-diameter pedestal. The light poles will light up at night and “serve as a beacon” for passing traffic. The design is still conceptual. The contract for the project is for $140,000 and comes from the city’s Percent for the Arts Program. The program was approved in 2016 and requires 2% of the cost of certain projects to be spent on public art. Stephan was one of five finalists out of 118 applications after a request for qualifications was put out in April. A six-member panel, including two Elk Grove arts commissioners, Sally Guttridge and Liz Irons, voted on the design. Stephan has a background in public art. He’s installed pieces at the Tampa International Airport, the Wishard Hospital in Indianapolis and the San Diego International Airport. He also was a 2005 Louise Bourgeois Fellow at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and an artist in resident in Arts/Industry program in Kohler, Wis., in 2008. “Generally, his work, which I love, he takes those ordinary objects that we are very, very familiar with: ladders, and stones and in this case, lampposts, and he turns them into these extraordinary sculptures and installations,” Willis said. Council member Kevin Spease said while he’s sometimes challenged by public art, he liked what Stephan proposed. “I saw it; I liked it; I am supportive of it,” Spease said. Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen said she was appreciative of the name. “I really appreciate that we raised the bar from books to public art, which we sorely need in Elk Grove,” Singh-Allen said.