Skip to main content

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Advanced Search
The White Tornado by Rockne Krebs
Photo CreditCarol M. Highsmith Photography
The White Tornado
Photo CreditCarol M. Highsmith Photography

The White Tornado

Artist
Year1979
Classification sculpture
Medium aluminum, fabric, neon and prisms
Dimensions40 × 10 ft. (1219.1 × 304.8 cm)

Credits Commissioned through the Art in Architecture Program
Fine Arts Collection
U.S. General Services Administration
Location
  • The artwork is an environmental sculpture with a tornado-like element of aluminium tubing on which white neon bars, "lightning bolts", are placed, forming a five-pointed star when viewed from below.  More than 200 prisms are mounted on the skylights and are designed to scatter sunlight over the funnel-shape. The subject is clearly inspired by the tornados for which Kansas is known.  The artist sees it as a collage within the existing architecture. The collage consists of several elements, all meant to work together as an environment that changes with the time of day, the weather and the seasons. The winding pattern of small prisms casts spectra all around the space.  A white scrim forms the transition from the ceiling panel to the structure of the funnel.