Public art piece Wellness Loop installed near Health Professions Building
By Theresa Pratt, Staff Writer
The new Wellness Loop art sculpture stands tall just outside the Health Professions Building. Designed by artist Benjamin Ball it’s the first piece of public art installed at Towson University and funded by the Maryland Public Art Commission.
Ball created the piece to symbolize connection and balance. It uses a mathematical knot to show the connection between six wellness elements: physical, social, environmental, emotional, spiritual and intellectual.
“This is part of a series of projects that I’ve been doing with knotting, weaving, and shapes,” Ball said. “I started thinking about how certain knots could relate to an idea of wholeness.”
Workers installed the footers toward the end of 2024 and installed the sculpture in January of this year.
“My favorite parts of the installation process were visiting the site prior to making a proposal and then working through the proposal itself,” Ball said. “These are the moments on the orders where the work is open ended.”
Before focusing on more creative pieces, Ball obtained a degree from Southern California Institute of Architecture. He’s worked as a set production designer for the Matrix series, music videos and commercials. He now works at his own studio Ball-Nogues Studio in collaboration with another artist, Gaston Nogues.
James Jones is a project manager at Ball’s studio and worked on the installation with him.
“My favorite part about working with Benjamin is that I really love the amount of thought that goes into our designs that the studio produces,” Jones said. “We’re also always trying new things and pushing boundaries.”
Lisa Plowfield, the dean of the College of Health Professions, said Towson will hold a dedication ceremony for the piece later this semester.
“What I love about the use of the mirrored spheres is, if someone is walking by it, particularly a prospective student, and they look up into the art work, they can see themselves here at Towson University and I just think that is powerful,” Plowfield said.