Twist

Twist ignites the space around it with a quiet energetic balance. The piece itself is heavy, made from imposing stone slabs that rise taller than 6 feet, but its active construction make it feel light and fluttery. Under proper lighting conditions, and especially in the snow, the flat tops of each slab stay bright while the rough-hewn edges of each slab are darker and show more movement across the surface. This alternating effect that comes with the different levels of stone was inspired by geologic strata that occurs naturally in rock formations. The stones seem to dance as the viewer circles the piece becasue the dynamic form of the sculpture makes its profile change drastically from every angle. By making all the shapes converge at the center, Tacha makes the center feel compact, heavy, and slow, reminding the observer that each slab of Ohio sandstoen weighs 3/4 of a ton. The cavernous shape at the core of Twist shields itself from the bright lights, causing a darker "void" in the center, from which the bright tendrils of stone grasp out. Reaching horizontal elements, illusions of weight, and a stepped vertical focus has lead Tacha to state that Twist communicates a link between her completely vertical sculptures and her variety of stair sculptures.

Much of Tacha's public sculpture, such as Merging across the street, plays with levels and stepped terraces. She found that "Steps offer both climbing and seating opportunity" allowing for her pieces to double as a study in both the body in motion and the body at rest. This is apparent in her composition of Twist, with contrasts of weights, textures, and light values, and how the eye moves across those. Does it allow the eye to move freely and quickly , or does it slow the viewer down and force them into rest. She explains her propensity for staircases and stepped forms in Harriet Senie's book, Dancing in the Landscape, "... [ S] he seek[s] to isolate and rationalie some of the kinesthetic experiences of the act of ascending and descendning to bring forth the spatial feeling of different step arrangements and stress the inherent logic as well as sculptural qualities if staircases." Twist thus invites viewers to experience the processes she mentions, and take part in the convergence of the body in motion with the body at rest in one place by climbing the piece.