Restoration planned for 'Light Spikes'

Good news for one of our favorite works of art in Houston: Jay Baker's "Light Spikes," the collection of eight 24-foot-high flag pillars created for the 1990 Economic Summit. The pillars originally stood in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center, but were moved to Intercontinental Airport when the summit ended — and they've remained there ever since, sitting alongside the airport's main drive. Problem is, the work was never intended to be permanent, and after 16 years it's quite a bit the worse for wear. But the good news: The city's aviation department plans to restore the Light Spikes.

The $363,000 restoration will involve replacing the spikes' fabric coverings, which have been torn by workers changing the light bulbs inside, and rebuilding their aluminum interior structures. The rebuilt Light Spikes will include long-life bulbs that should last for 11 years, according to Channel 11. The cost of the work is justified because the sculpture has become a local landmark, Pam Ingeroll, who cares for the artwork at Houston's airports, said: "It just keeps being recognized as something special by everyone that comes through, so we have to do a pretty full restoration."

Something interesting we didn't know about the Light Spikes: They represent the eight governments that participated in the Economic Summit — the U.S., the U.K., France, Japan, Canada, the European Community, Italy and Germany. That part we knew, but we just learned that the spikes lean at a 10-degree angle toward a central point representing Houston, and the distance between each spike and this (unmarked) central point represents the distance between Houston and the capital of the country the spike represents. So the arrangement of the spikes, which we always took to be free-form, is totally planned. How about that?