OKLAHOMA CITY – Standing 24 feet tall, stretching 40 feet long, and with an interior space approximately 9 feet wide, the new immersive sculpture installation “Cloud Embrace” now lives in Bricktown’s United Way Plaza.
On March 11th, The City of OKC unveiled the permanent installation, designed by Arizona-based artist Joseph O’Connell, with his company Creative Machines, and commissioned by Visit OKC and the Inasmuch Foundation as a gift to the city to help revitalize the plaza.
Located where the Centennial Fountain once stood, the sculpture aims to serve as a hub, motivating people to gather.
At first glance, the installation pays homage to Oklahoma’s skies.
Composed mainly of seven large metal sections with a white acrylic finish, it resembles a cloud, with “OKC” prominently suspended in the center and drilled motifs of circles and stars further adding to the piece’s whimsical tone.
But nothing is more whimsical than the piece’s interior.
Visitors that step inside are engulfed by tinted skylights in blue, orange, purple, and green hues. When sunlight passes through, it projects colorful shadows onto the sculpture, mimicking the celestial masterpieces we Oklahomans experience nearly every evening. LED lights have also been installed to create the same effect at night.
“I don’t shy away from design-related art projects because I remind myself that Michelangelo’s David was a design art project,” O’Connell told Free Press.
Like Michelangelo, O’Connell wanted to craft a powerful allegory from a straightforward idea. In the case of Bricktown’s new attraction, it was an idea about gathering places and encouraging people to come together.
“A cloud forms with a tiny bit of dust. You can have a saturated atmosphere full of water molecules, wanting to condense into a cloud, but they need a little object to nucleate around,” he explained. “People are the same way. People need objects, third spaces, and public spaces to gather and form excuses for interaction. And that’s what public art does well.”
“Cloud Embrace” serves as just that. It’s a literal platform for gathering and for fostering interaction.
And in less than a month, “Cloud Embrace” has already made a significant impact.
Local musicians have filmed videos inside and around it, Fuzzy’s Taco Shop has named a drink after it, and social media is already being inundated with videos and photos of visitors with the sculpture.
That’s already been a satisfying outcome for O’Connell and his team of 25, who began planning the project in October of 2025.
“It’s doing its job,” he said. “It’s nucleating.”
Although the building process could have begun much sooner, O’Connell explained that those seven parts at the time were awkward to transport and assemble. Instead of prematurely building, he and his team invested time in thorough planning to ensure a smooth construction process.
When it finally came time to move the pieces into position Bricktown and begin assembling them, it required a full team and three trucks.
For O’Connell, planning and teamwork are human superpowers that his company takes pride in.
That’s an outlook he said was influenced early on by a family connection to Thomas Edison. When O’Connell was in his early 20s, he was mentored by Edison’s shop foreman, Azell Prince, who was 87. O’Connell was the last outside family member to spend extensive time with Prince during his final years.
Prince emphasized Edison‘s talent for teamwork, a trait O’Connell has incorporated into Creative Machines.
But the artist said that his use of light and immersion are rooted more in his childhood memories of the Catholic Church.
“I realized maybe ten or so years into my artistic career that I was always creating these little special worlds filled with colored light,” he said. “A few memories come to mind. One is the real pioneer in immersive environments with the cathedrals and the stained glass windows.”
He hopes that his work can be transformative for people, and that it can linger with them even after they leave.
“It’s also about creating a temporary little room that people then can use for transformation,” he said, “an experience that allows people to emerge changed because you can become slightly a different person in it.”
By creating a vessel for transformation based on memories from his youth, O’Connell provides the spectator with the same sense of wonder he got from his special place all those years ago.
“Cloud Embrace” is more than a third place. It’s a symbol of unity and transformation capable of elevating both the city and the community to new heights.
To keep up with future projects from Joseph O’Connell and Creative Machines, follow @josephoconnellart and @creativemachines on Instagram.
Gavin Taylor is a writer who explores the lives, work, and events of the people of Oklahoma. He draws his inspiration from engaging directly with the community.
Outside of writing, he is a visual artist, filmmaker, and energetic rock and roll frontman known professionally as The Muffled Siren.
