by Darcie Duranceau | photos by Artists Archives
WHERE ART MEETS ENGINEERING
For British artist Arlon Bayliss, courage is more than a feeling—it is a physical requirement of the job. It took undeniable grit to show up without an interview appointment at the Royal College of Art with nothing but a suitcase and a portfolio, and it takes a similar kind of bravery to design massive structures that must stand tall against the unpredictable Indiana elements. This resilience is the backbone of his work, ensuring that every 30-foot installation is as structurally sound as it is visually striking.
Now three decades into his career, Bayliss is known for larger-than-life, gravity-defying installation art around the Indianapolis area and beyond. His public artworks include Grace, Love and Joy, a trio of 45-foot roses that gave an unnamed Carmel roundabout its own identity; Flight Wave, a 145-foot glass wall at the Indianapolis International Airport made in collaboration with his wife, Mary Jo; and a set of sculptures on 96th Street inspired by classic cars of Indiana. He has also brought public art to schools, working with students at Franklin Community High School to embed their own imagery into a stylized metal tree. Behind every piece stands his longtime fabrication partner, bo-mar Industries, whose engineers and craftsmen help translate Bayliss’ hand-built models into structures engineered to last.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE METHOD
Bayliss’ process has matured alongside his recognition in the Greater Indianapolis area. In his earlier years, he spent significant time responding to RFPs (Requests for Proposals), relying primarily on his own labor and the help of his former students to bring his visions to life. As his reputation grew, he moved from seeking work to being approached for major public commissions. This shift granted him the privilege of moving away from solo efforts to creating with the assistance of an entire team at bo-mar Industries.
This transition didn’t just change his scale; it redefined his timeline. While physical shop floor fabrication might take roughly 4–6 weeks, the digital engineering required to account for wind loads and structural integrity requires a 12–20 week lead time. During this window, every nut, bolt, and washer is digitally accounted for and the whole sculpture is computer stress-tested. This meticulous preparation is exactly why the final build and installation can happen quickly—the bravery of the design is backed by an ironclad plan.
Bayliss balances that heavy-duty engineering with a sense of grace inspired by the philosophy of Maya Lin. By first imagining the viewer’s emotional experience, he ensures that the designed reality of weight, steel, and light never loses its heart. To understand a Bayliss piece, look at how he bridges the gap between the creative spark and the technical precision of the final build; his work owes credit to both the artist and his engineer.
THE TECHNICAL INTEGRATION OF LIGHT
Bayliss treats light as strategically as his other materials. He views his glass and metal surfaces not merely as solid forms, but as filters and reflectors that dictate how colored light is distributed in the composition. Rather than simply illuminating the sculpture from the outside, he incorporates light into the very fabric of the work. As day turns to night, the piece evolves as the viewer moves around it.
To achieve this, he relies on the quiet precision of handmade models to study not only composition, but also the play of light in real time. Instead of colored LEDs, which he finds flat or artificial, he employs dichroic glass filters. As Bayliss explains, these filters possess subtle qualities that LEDs cannot match—a yellow piece of glass reflects purple, and a magenta piece reflects cyan. His manipulation of these filters creates shifts in color that exude from the project, ensuring the interaction between natural and artificial light remains sophisticated and responsive to the viewer’s movement.
ENVIRONMENTAL HARMONY AND THE LOCAL LEGACY
Bayliss puts an immense amount of thought into how his work enlivens its surrounding environment. For Flight Wave, a 145-foot glass wall at the Indianapolis International Airport, he collaborated with his wife, Mary Jo. They used hundreds of light-permeable glass chevrons to create a dance of color that reminds viewers of birds or paper airplanes in flight.
It is not always a play on light or an area’s architecture that must be considered. Some of his installations seem to grow directly from the landscape they inhabit. Bayliss speaks warmly of a project for a roundabout at Franklin Community High School, remarking that it was rather remote, “just a wooded area.”
“I had the students generate images that were indicative of their experiences, things that were important to them. And then we translated those images into cutouts.”
“I designed a stylized tree in sheets of metal, and then bo-mar cut through the metal to reveal the students’ silhouettes,” says Bayliss.
Transforming a neighborhood through public art reached a peak with the installation of three giant roses on a roundabout at Pennsylvania and Old Meridian in Carmel— a project he views as a love letter to the locals and a gift to the street. The piece stands an impressive 35 feet tall and 18 feet wide; a full-grown human can stand inside one of the glowing flowers. Known as Grace, Love and Joy, the sculpture’s impact was so significant that the surrounding area was affectionately renamed The Flower District.
The success of Bayliss’ public artwork rests in a mutual respect for collaboration between artist and fabricator. “My partnership with Bob Buchan and his team at bo-mar has made all the difference in the world,” he says. “I know in my bones that none of this would be possible without their courage and exceptional know-how.” Bo-mar has a team of 60 employees, including engineers, machine operators, welders, and installers. Nearly every one of them will have their hands on Bayliss’s pieces.
By bringing his work out of galleries or museums and into public spaces, viewers are no longer required to visit his work, instead he brings it to them. Through his vision and the skills of his fabricator, his public art becomes a cultural landmark, and a testament to the artist and the engineer working together in harmony.
