Constructed in 2017 by Ken McCall and Leslie Dixon, Transference consists of steel and plexiglass. Located outside the Environmental Research Building, Transference heralds the first public art partnership between the City and Boise State. The sculpture is Ken McCall and Leslie Dixon’s interpretation of the City’s unparalleled municipal geothermal system.
A steel center hoop, the essence of the design, acts as a portal rooted in the earth, rising and returning, imitating the cyclical nature of the geothermal process. Cut-steel plates illustrate map locations of buildings downtown and on the Boise State campus that receive the geothermal system. The complimentary colors of the blue and orange serve as dual symbols; they represent both the hot and cold aspects of geothermal activity as well as the University’s school colors.
Boise’s geothermal system extracts naturally heated water from the earth to provide reliable, clean energy to the community. Twenty feet south of Transference, an underground pipe carries geothermally heated water to the Environmental Research Building. Geothermal energy heats many locations across campus, making Boise State the City’s largest partner in geothermal heating. Transference celebrates this shared commitment to continued development and research of geothermal energy.
Written by Rachel Taylor, Summer 2019 intern