The future of The Pier’s ‘net’ sculpture is blowin’ in the wind

The 2025 coffee-table book Radical Softness: The Responsive Art of Janet Echelman devotes 300 full-color pages to the works of the Tampa-born artist, whose elevated woven sculptural installations appear in 38 cities on four continents.

The book’s editors pay special attention to Bending Arc, which was created for the St. Pete Pier, and installed there in 2020. In photo after photo, the 424x280-foot net-like sculpture billows in the St. Petersburg breeze, 72 feet above the ground, its form ever-changing. The artwork's strong PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) twine fibers, 180 miles of them (with 1,662,528 knots), are blue and white. At night, an LED lighting system changes the piece’s colors, mood and profile.

Amplify Women Tampa Bay’s Annual Summit is this week

Intentionally misleading? Former Pinellas senator files suit over property tax ballot summary

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St. Pete Beach sign dispute lands in federal court

"If you pass this ordinance," Plaza Beach Motel owner Rob Czyszczon told St. Pete Beach commissioners in June, "there will be consequences. There most likely will be a lawsuit."

Less than two weeks later, Plaza Beach Motel and Undertow Beach Bar followed through, filing a federal lawsuit challenging the city's new beach sign ordinance.

Stephanie Weaver

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