photo by: Contributed

This is a concept that artist Joe O'Connell has created for the artwork he is commissioned to complete for the new Lawrence police headquarters. The concept features a pavilion with panels of stained-glass eyes between the support columns.

The artist commissioned to create the art that will stand outside the new Lawrence police headquarters told the public Saturday that his work would invite viewers to look through the eyes of others.

The artist, Joe O’Connell, of Tucson, Ariz., was selected two years ago from more than 40 artists to create the art at the new headquarters, 5100 Overland Drive. He is expected to complete the $325,000 project this year, said Porter Arneill, a spokesman for the city.

O’Connell publicly presented his concept for the artwork during two Zoom conferences Saturday.

The piece that O’Connell described is a pavilion crafted from a single piece of stainless steel with a domed open roof. Just below the roofline and above arches that connect the pavilion’s supporting columns will be a ring of panels with depictions of eyes. The pavilion will be placed southwest of the police station in what’s being called a minipark.

O’Connell developed the concept after visiting Lawrence in 2020 while the future police station was under construction and talking with police officers and residents in the west Lawrence neighborhood.

The concept invites viewers to develop understanding and empathy by looking through the eyes of others displayed on the ring, O’Connell said. For example, viewers may reflect on what a police officer with a family at home sees when the officer engages someone on the street. And police officers can reflect on what the people they are engaging with see.

The eyes, he said, are abstractions of those of police officers and residents of different ages he met while visiting Lawrence. He looked for expressive eyes and eyebrows that evoked emotions, and he’s looking for the public to suggest additional subjects.

“I collected 10 sets of eyes representing different people,” he said. “They will be abstracted so much you won’t recognize the starting point. One way I want to involve the community is for people to submit faces to me. Maybe they can be respected leaders on the police department. I want to extract that life force.”

Pictures can be sent to him at joconnell@creativemachines.com.

The eye concept allowed him to incorporate color into the piece, something he always tries to do in his art, O’Connell said. The challenge in the Lawrence work was to find a color medium that wouldn’t fade with time. His solution was stained glass.

O’Connell said he used a computer program to help create the eye depictions that will be set in the stainless steel panels that wrap around the pavilion.

The work will have another color element that will show up late in the afternoon, O’Connell said. His company has developed lighting fixtures that will be incorporated into the pavilion to project symbols on the concrete inside the structure and the area around it, he said. Those with ideas for symbols can email them to him.

O’Connell is pleased that there will be access from his work to a multi-use trail. He envisions the plaza where the pavilion is as a starting point for family walks or group runs by police officers.

The Lawrence Police Department officially moved to the new $18.5 million headquarters in December 2020. The 55,00-square-foot facility houses a variety of police operations, including patrol, information services, records and evidence storage. The art project is funded by the city’s long-standing Percent for Art program, which allows city leaders to set aside up to 2% of a building project’s budget for public art.