Winter Series: Larry Bell’s Iceberg

The Winter Series is a new annual exhibition series that brings color and joy to the coldest, dreariest months of the year. Each year between December and March, the light-filled, 90-foot-high Windhover Hall will showcase a large-scale installation by a renowned or up-and-coming artist whose work reflects a profound meditation on nature. Open to all with free admission, this series invites visitors to experience an intriguing and often colorful alternative to the winter beyond the windows and affords artists an opportunity to reflect upon nature within this one-of-a-kind space.

This unique series commences with the installation of Iceberg (2020) by Larry Bell (b. 1939), a leading artist of the California Light and Space Movement. Comprised of four zig-zagged, free-standing panels of laminated glass, each seven feet tall at its pinnacle, Iceberg sits in the prow-like space of the magnificent hall, set against the backdrop of Lake Michigan. It connects the architectural wonder that is Windhover Hall to its natural, seasonal surroundings by evoking the shape and shifting tones of floating ice forms and, incidentally, the effects of a changing climate.

Bell is known for his innovative sculptural experiments with light and perception, primarily using glass. He explores the medium’s ability to simultaneously reflect, absorb, and transmit light and utilizes alternative, often industrial materials—here, commercially available color film sandwiched between sheets of clear glass—to create complex spatial ambiguities. A see-through object one moment becomes mirrored the next; shadows turn into windows. Iceberg, with its many surfaces, amplifies these subtle effects and offers a polychromatic contrast to the wintery expanse beyond the soaring windows.