Poet Stephen Berg and visual artist Tom Chimes describe Sleeping Woman as a "choral voice rising out of the site." The collaborative work was created specifically for this location and was commissioned by the Fairmount Park Art Association with support from the Pew Charitable Trusts. The text, painted without punctuation on the top of the stone retaining wall that separates the Schuylkill River and the grass bank of Kelly Drive, was applied with a series of polyurethane coatings so that the words "emerge" from the stone. Depending upon the variable light and the angle of the observer, the letterforms appear and disappear. The center of the text is marked by the word "RIVER."

Photo: Gary McKinnis