Sarah Braman’s ‘Stay’ has officially found its permanent home at Burns Commons Park. The work is now part of Milwaukee’s cityscape, where it offers a place to sit, gather, pause, and experience shifting light through its colored glass; it is free and open to everyone.
The permanent addition was made possible through support from Mandel Group, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, the Herzfeld Foundation, Betty Arndt, Donna and Donald Baumgartner, and the many donors who contributed through a spring campaign to help bring ‘Stay’ to its home.
‘Stay’ is a custom concrete culvert equipped with benches for sitting, an open frame for looking out, and colored panes of glass for experiencing oneself and the surroundings in new ways. Its form provides places to sit and look outward while its glass changes how the setting is experienced.
The colors of ‘Stay’s’ glass are derived from sunsets and change as the sun’s angle shifts throughout the day and year. Braman invites viewers to explore the feeling of being a color as tinted light pours over them.
Braman is widely recognized for large-scale sculptures that serve as monuments to everyday life. Her work is rooted in the traditions of minimalism and color-field painting while addressing themes of home, family, nature, and joy.
Made in 2024, "Stay" is built from a concrete drainage culvert, aluminium frames and glass and measures 96 × 114 × 114 inches. It was previously part of Sculpture Milwaukee's exhibition "Actual Fractals, Act II", and the organisation's website pairs it with an audio tour and a "Social Choreography Score" by Kim Miller.
