Today’s Sculpture Vulture is Ted Schaal’s MIRAGE located in the Vogel-Scwartz Sculpture Garden. It was purchased in 2009 for the garden.

According to Schaal, “Mirage Monument was inspired by seeing a desert mirage while driving in the west. A mountain appeared to be hovering in the sky and I wanted to capture that instant of wonder about that etherial phenomenon. The sense of illusion and curiosity as to how it is happening is central to the piece. The horizontal slit in the stainless orb is the horizon line and the ridges in the bronze make stair step profiles like heat off the road.”