The newest public art installation at Arts District Liberty Station really flows.

Titled “Water & Words,” the sculpture by artist Kline Swonger explores the community’s relationship and associations with water, a compound within each person that helps in spreading people, information, and goods.

“It’s my first installation at Liberty Station,” noted Swonger, whose lifelong interest in art has inspired her to create murals as well. “This isn’t a mural,” she confided about Water & Words noting instead, “This is public art.”

Part of the Installations at the Station program, Swonger’s new sculpture is composed of thin, ribbon-like structures that seemingly weave through the archways of the corridors of the former Naval Training Center. The rigid ribbons, visually representing water, are made from a translucent material allowing light to pass through.

Words relating to associations with and memories of water were collected from community members for her project. The ribbon-like words cast light and shadow, ebbing and flowing within their space, revealing and concealing the messages on the floor during different times of the day.

Swonger is an interdisciplinary artist and designer. Her practice and research primarily involve installation, sculpture, and community-engaged public art, in which concepts of place, psychology of space, and perception are explored. Light, shadow, and materials representative of both urban and natural landscapes are incorporated into her art, allowing for moments of reflection and pause.

Swonger’s work has been exhibited along the West Coast, and her local public art has been installed within the San Diego International Airport and in the cities of San Diego, El Cajon, and National City. Her work is also part of the City of San Diego and SDSU’s permanent collections.

Of the inspiration behind Words & Water, Swonger said Liberty Station allowed a lot of leeway for artists to be creative. “It was pretty open to your design and interpretation,” she said of what was being requested in terms of public art. “They just asked that the piece be created to be something that engages the community within the work.”

So Swonger first visited the site where the public art would be exhibited. “I was struck by its proximity to the (water) channel,” she said adding, “I thought it would be interesting to do something about water. I wanted to create a sense of community and connection and the (sculptural) form, though slightly abstracted, is inspired by water.”

Swonger noted her translucent ribbon-like structures are strung in the upper part of barracks archways where they “cast colors” on the walls and in the hallways. “I’m interested in light and shadow in my work,” she said adding, in rendering Words & Water, that she opted to employ the sculptural element of ribbons because that allowed her to “integrate words into the piece.”

The artist enjoys doing site-specific public art because “it’s enriching to have art which connects with its place.”

Asked what advice she’d give aspiring artists and sculptors, Swonger said: “Go for it. It’s an amazing challenge.”