“The aim of art is to represent not only the outward appearance of things but their inward significance.” —Aristotle

& So The Tower of the No Bull Salvage

In the mid-1980s, I had been working at Lippincott and Don Lippincott asked me if I had any ideas or thoughts about doing a large piece. I said yes, I had been thinking about doing a tower—one you could go up in where some elements would be cut out, and as the sun and light changed, the images and symbols would reflect, move, and crawl around the inside of the tower.

Almost all the images used in The Tower stem from one source, The Picture Book of Symbols, by Ernst Lerner, copyright 1956. The other forms and images (buzzard, eagle, snake, demon and angel) were of my own design and imagination.

I have long been interested and intrigued by Medieval images, signs and symbols, and those seemed the most appropriate for The Tower and its accompanying elements. I also wanted the imagery to be drawn from various cultures so that anyone visiting might find their particular culture represented.

I wanted the signs and images to be inclusive with many forces, in symbolic form, represented from the light to the dark . . . from the hidden to the stark . . . our spiraling evolving existence and apparent individual demise. So that is what I hope The Tower is about—its spirit and soul—hoping that it will evoke meditations on one’s existence and relationship with all the elements of this mysterious and magical life we have, its beauties and mysteries, its horrors and sufferings; and I also hope it can just be visited and enjoyed by children and people of all ages and backgrounds and that, on occasion, it might find use in local custom, costume, pageant or play. (It also offers some interesting sound effects.) The Yale University Choir sang inside The Tower and produced a much-desired echo. I would like to hear what a chorus of children or people would sound like spiraling up the stairs and the sounds of The Tower itself. Some of the stars and bats give off powerful sounds and vibrations.

I would also like to inscribe the stone that stands just inside the gate with the words or pictures that represent “human being” in as many languages as possible. It would be nice to this once The Tower is in its home or final location, as a finished (or beginning) touch.

The Tower represents a situation that is where we see all, deny none and attempt to make wise choices as to our own path.

Sincerely,
William T. Wiley

LIPPINCOTT SCULPTURE

LIPPINCOTT SCULPTURE