CHAMPA
Denver, Colorado, 1995

As a tribute to Earth Day, Carolyn Braaksma designed paving patterns for the 36' x 36' street intersection near the Denver Public Library and Denver Art Museum for the City of Denver. The concrete pavement was dyed, stained, stamped, and saw-cut by the contractor during construction, to create different patterns and textures. The colorful central area of the intersection represents overlapping “rugs” that create two distinct areas of imagery. The patterns and pale blue color of one “rug” are specific to the indigenous Arapaho Indians. The pattern of leaves and berries in the other “rug” represent the chokecherry tree, which once grew abundantly along the banks of Cherry Creek in Denver. Champa is the Sioux/Assiniboine name for Cherry Creek and for the chokecherry.