106 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {landmark} Ahundred feet above the marshes of Baylands Nature Preserve, Mary Lucking’s “Baylands Vignette” renders the landscape in aluminum and steel. The art installation, which was commissioned by the city of Palo Alto in 2021, sits on the bike bridge that spans Highway 101 and reaches over the preserve itself. In creating the piece, Mary sought to emphasize the minutiae of the natural setting, giving viewers a sense of the Baylands below. The three central aluminum sculptures are embellished with shapes that recall the marshes’ features: delicate insects, tall grass, ripples of water. Around the sculptures, steely blades of grass replicate the sensation of being nestled down in the marsh. “Up in the air and overlooking this beautiful view, you have one sort of experience,” Mary describes, “but it’s a different experience when you’re down in it, where you get to see all these little details ... when you’re in the Baylands, the words by MARGARET KOENIG • photography by ROBB MOST LANDMARK baylands vignette scale of what’s really interesting is so minute. So you’ll see the texture of the grasses, and the way the water rushes over the rocks, and the little tiny bugs and birds. My thought was to bring some of that up onto this resting point.” Deliberate in every aspect, Mary put careful thought into her unconventional choice of materials. “I wanted to make something that was really touchable, that you wanted to run your hands over,” she says of her handcrafted artwork. “One of the inspirations for the way it looks is old silver tableware from the 1900s, where it’s kind of smooth and worn, but it just feels good under your fingers.” The aluminum sculptures are thoughtfully shaped so viewers can sit comfortably on them while taking in the surrounding landscape.
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