Big Max is more than Giant Pick-Up Sticks

Does everyone remember the game Pick -Up Sticks? Or Pick-A-Stick? This sculpture, Big Max, reminds me of playing the game as a kid. Big Max is part of Drawing In Space: The Peninsula Project that is a state-wide exhibition of very large sculpture placed in seven cities in Florida. Created by the celebrated American contemporary sculptor John Henry, Big Max is BIG and wonderful to explore at a distance and up close and from below. It is bright red and makes you smile and want to drum on its side to hear the side it makes. It’s as though a little kid oh so carefully positioned and balanced these giant metal pick-up sticks and then stood back and said, Don’t breath. Don't move. But when you actually visit, you must walk under and around the piece and imagine its weight, construction and balance. But do breath; this is a lot of sculpture to cover. Big Max sits firmly on the south side of Tampa’s MacDill Park, part of the Tampa Riverwalk that runs along our downtown riverfront. Made of steel and completed in 1995, the sculpture is 75-feet long and 33-high - as tall as a three story building.