Sequence uses the idea of metamorphosis as a metaphor for the individual's search for information which leads to understanding and ultimately a contribution to human knowledge. Etched in granite and highlighted with gold and silver leaf on the building's exterior, the artist has created a mural which depicts cell growth. The mural consists of eight granite blocks, deeply etched with line drawings that depict the process of one cell dividing into two. The artist intended that the sequence and movement of the mural reflect the movement in and around the library region.

About the Artist ...
Kathleen Ruiz uses digital media to create work that is concerned with the interior structures of nature and thought, and the border between subjective and objective space. She has exhibited at numerous galleries, universities, and alternative spaces in the United States, Europe, and Asia including Cooper Union, Aperture, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Galerie Froment & Putnam. She is a recipient of grants from the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation and Artist's Space.

It is my goal in my art to go beyond the white-walled halls of the gallery and the museum. To reach a greater number of people in the community. I am constantly reminded of what Ana Mendieta believed when she said, "Art is a material part of culture, but its greatest value is its spiritual role, and that influences society, because it's the greatest contribution to the intellectual and moral development of humanity that can be made."

I believe that public art and all art, indeed, should resonate with us physically, intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally.

-- Ruiz, 1997