South side plaza entrance.

STOP and GO, 2004
Athena Tacha
LED lights, ceramic tiles, enameled aluminum
218' l x 88' h 

Stop and Go was designed to evoke images of the original stop and go sign created by African-American inventor, Garrett A. Morgan. The color tile paths inset in the plaza pavement represent the colors of Metrorail lines. Animated stop and go lighted signs mark where the color lines intersect.

Born in Larissa, Greece in 1936, Tacha studied sculpture at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Athens, and later with the help of a Fulbright scholarship received an M.A. in art history from Oberlin College in Ohio. In 1963, she received her Ph.D. in Aesthetics from the Sorbonne in Paris, France, and then returned to Oberlin to begin her career as an assistant curator, and later curator, at the school's Allen Memorial Art Museum, before teaching sculpture classes at the college starting in 1973. In 1998 she moved to Washington, D.C. and began teaching as an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. Tacha works with a diverse array of materials including stone, brick, steel, water, plants, and L.E.D. lighting.