Ascdendant Light

January 2023
Capital One Center , Tower 3
1803 Capital One Drive S
Tysons, VA 22102

Ascendant Light is the latest permanent installation artist Anne Patterson, consisting of a field of printed and laser-cut fabric ribbons that span the length of six stories. The work builds upon Patterson’s previous textile installations in a site-specific interplay with the elements. Suspended beside a multi-story wall of windows, Ascendant Light shimmers, sways, and is in constant conversation with the shifting light and varying shades of blue that radiate in from the sky outside. 

Up close from the upper atrium of the 23-story building, the subtle sway of the ribbons mesmerizes and seems to act as a magnet, drawing in light and shadow from the outside. Below from the main lobby, Ascendant Light can still be seen, and appears as an abstract form, like a color-field painting suddenly sprang into three-dimensional life.

Ribbons of fifty-five feet were hand-plotted by Patterson and suspended in an arrangement that invites and even challenges the eye. Invoking the metaphysical, the suspended lines create an upward, lifting sensation. The form that is a dense mass of color at a distance reveals itself to be no solid object at all, but a collection of fine, delicate parts. The fusion of blue and yellow hues reflect, refract, and exchange with the colors occurring naturally just beyond the center’s windows

“With this work, I am seeking to create a conversation of elements: between air and light, between interior and exterior, between the lower and upper lobbies of the spectacular architecture of the new center. When the clouds pass by the atrium windows, and as the sun makes its daily arc, the cast shadows and shifting light merge with the colors and texture of Ascendant Light; what shimmers and flutters from the ceiling becomes one with the existing environment.”

Anne Patterson
Ascendant Light, 2022
satin ribbon, steel cable
55' x 41' x 28'

Inspired during the installation of the piece, Patterson also created a series of watercolors which reflect the vibrancy and liveliness of the work in situ. They can be seen below as well as here.

Thanks goes to...

Anne Fletcher and Susannah Dunn at Capital One

Dale Lanzone

The team at Gensler Architects, especially Jeff Barber

Associate Designer- Kina Park

My studio team - (Kat Choe, Rose Blanshei, Jessie Baldinger, Mia Boloukos, Tucker Ellis, Joelle Gonzalez, Conor McNamara, Cole Mercier, Thea Voyles, Yulanda Ro Shieh)

John Cracraft at Cushman Wakefield

John McGovern at Shadowbox Design Management

Lighting design by Bliss Fasman