Joan Brigham has exhibited and collaborated on outdoor projects that expose the power of steam to transform the environment with both force and gentleness.

Tanner Fountain, 1985

Located at the Harvard University Science Center, Cambridge MA, the 60’ diameter fountain of concentric boulders was designed by Peter Walker of SWA Associates, Boston. The steam and water components were jointly designed by Joan Brigham and Dick Chaix of CMS Water Consultants. Each element was seen during its appropriate season. The fountain received the Boston Society of Landscape Architects award for 1985 and the American Society of Landscape Architects Merit award for 1986.

(photographs by Ellen Sebring, May 21, 2011)

“From my experience using steam as an outdoor element for temporary works it acts to shift our grounded understanding of a site in every respect: it conceals, then reveals the volumes of nearby buildings, their materials, colors, and surfaces as the wind carries it along and upwards until it dissipates. Even when the steam is issuing from a manhole when underground work is being performed, passers-by are asked if they notice that they have just walked through clouds of steam and are temporarily blinded, they reply that they hadn’t noticed! When the steam art work is closed, a space can feel empty and unremarkable. There is no drama between the seen and unseen.”
— Joan Brigham

Steamers, 2011

An outdoor exhibition of Brigham’s glass aeolipiles bring steam and movement into the city. Sponsored by the Cambridge Arts Council. Jill Browne Rhone Park, Central Square, Cambridge, May 2-17.

Galaxy Fountain, 1990

Kendall Square, Cambridge This fountain is the focal point of a small park designed by Halvorson Company, Landscape architects, Boston in collaboration with Otto Piene, Director of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, MIT. The “Earth Sphere” appears  to float above a cloud of steam in the winter months and of water mist during the summer. The 15’ wide basin is surrounded by “Moon Light” suggestive of the phases of the moon. A bronze compass is set within the paving.

Otto Piene, Concept and Design; Joe Davis, Sculptor
Joan Brigham, Steam Artist
Allan Schwarz, Design Coordinator
Materials: Steel, steam, light, Honey Locust Trees, Greenwave Shrubs

Unleashing the steam beneath the streets was an event in itself. Here, the alleyway next to the Center for Advanced Visual Studies' famous West 11 building became a launchpad for understanding and playing with steam as an artistic element.

Joan Brigham, "Fog Mist and Dreams" for the Arttransition conference held by the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, MIT, October, 1975