Old Growth

Artist: Hoss Haley

Location: Wilson Air Center

Artist Statement: Old Growth marks the entry to Wilson Air Center at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and represents one of North Carolina-based sculptor Hoss Haley’s most ambitious undertakings - 25 tons of interconnected steel components measuring 40 feet high by 40 feet wide. The abstract branch structure is meant to suggest the majesty of a giant oak. “I was after that sensation you get when you’re underneath, where it’s at once very comforting but also very powerful,” he says of the monumental sculpture. Hoss Haley (b. 1961, Dodge, Kansas) is an American artist residing in the mountains of North Carolina. He learned machining and steel fabrication at an early age and then apprenticed as a blacksmith for several years in Texas and New Mexico.

Commissioned by the Arts & Science Council and the Public Art Commission in partnership with the City of Charlotte.