“Foxglove”, in the lobby of San Antonio's new University Hospital Tower, is a glowing lantern greeting visitors from outside and inside.  Its form may be reminiscent of the familiar wildflower whose graceful blossom can be found each spring around the country.  The botanical term for foxglove is “digitalis”, once a common heart medicine derived from the foxglove plant.  However, the blossom can be deadly if eaten, so there is an intriguing tension between foxglove’s therapeutic and toxic qualities---the type of delicate balance that is common in modern health care practice. The terrazzo floor, also designed by Ed Carpenter, extends the sculpture, and draws one into its realm to discover views up inside “Foxglove”.
 

While an interest in light has been fundamental to virtually all of Carpenter’s work, he also embraces commissions that require new approaches and skills. This openness has led to increasing variety in his commissions and a wide range of sites and materials. Recent projects include interior and exterior sculptures, bridges, towers, and gateways. His use of glass in new configurations, programmed artificial lighting, and unusual tension structures have broken new ground in architectural art. He is known as an eager and open-minded collaborator as well as technical innovator.
Carpenter is grandson of a painter/sculptor, and step-son of an architect, in whose office he worked summers as a teenager. He studied architectural glass art under artists in England and Germany during the early 1970’s. Information on his projects and a video about his methods can be found at: http://www.edcarpenter.net