'Building Bridges' sculpture unveiled as JW Marriott opens at Reston Station

by Dawn Crosson, Editor

"Building Bridges" Photo by Benjamin Burgess

The new JW Marriott at Reston Station hosted a Sept. 15 reception to unveil the sculpture outside its doors and to showcase its in-house restaurant, The Simon, to community leaders. The following day, JW Marriott, the region’s largest luxury event space, officially opened to the public.

Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn spoke at the unveiling of his sculpture, “Building Bridges,” a replica of his monumental work of the same name in Venice, Italy. The piece depicts six sets of hands joined in pairs. “I create work to go beyond decorative,” Quinn said. “I want this sculpture to spread love and to make us realize that, really, skin-deep we are all the same. It doesn’t matter where we come from or our background—it’s important to work together to bring the world together. There are so many wonderful, good-hearted people who need to work together to make this a better world. When we work together, humanity achieves greatness.”

In Venice, “Building Bridges” forms a 50-foot-high archway spanning a canal. The version at JW Marriott, next to VIDA Fitness, is on a smaller scale, but adds another striking piece of public art to Reston’s landscape.

Photo by Benjamin Burgess

This is not Quinn’s first work on display in Reston. His “Forces of Nature” sculpture stands just across the street in the plaza. Its presence is especially fitting: Quinn’s best friend, who purchased his very first sculpture 40 years ago, lives in Reston. “He always believed in me, always pushed me,” Quinn said. “I was ecstatic to find that Reston wanted to bring my work to the same town where my friend lives.”

Quinn emphasized the collaborative effort behind the installation. “This is a culmination of a lot of work from a lot of people,” he said. “I might have had the idea, I might have created it, but it takes a big team to put this together. It really is building bridges. When we work together, when we believe in each other, we can create wonderful things.”

For Quinn, public art belongs to the people. “If it’s public, it’s exactly that—for the public. For people of all walks of life, all backgrounds. It’s not mine anymore. The moment it’s here, it’s not mine—it’s yours. I want people to interact with the sculpture.” He noted that a marriage proposal was scheduled to take place under the hands later that week.