As a kid, artist Patricia Vader woke up staring at a poster of Van Gogh's sunflowers in her bedroom. Her childhood memories, as well as the sunflower garden at her own home in the Bay Area, inspired her to create a mechanically engineered variety of the flower.
The Napa Sunflower consists of eight windmills. These windmills are made out of bicycle wheels with canted disks, which represent the heart and seven petals of the flower. The windmills spin in different directions (clockwise and counterclockwise) depending on the direction of the wind, and the orientation of the disks.
The heart of the flower has road reflectors mounted on each disk that flare up at night. The framework of this sculpture and the bicycle wheels are made of stainless steel. This is an expensive sunflower—a bunch would cost a bunch!
