22
COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER IN BOTH SUBTLE AND OBVIOUS WAYS.
W ORKS INCLUDED
the Rodin Sculpture Garden at the Cantor Arts Center includes 20 major works, including the monumental The Gates of Hell.
Campus art supports academic scholarship and interdisciplinary education. Works included in the outdoor art collection often complement each other in both subtle and obvious ways. For instance, in the Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden, Rodin’s influence can be seen in two recent interpretations by Sepik River artists of The Gates of Hell and The Thinker. In these sculptures, artists from the Sepik River area of Papua New Guinea incorporated both traditional lore and their experience of Stanford’s sculpture into works of wood and pumice stone.
The 40 sculptures of the Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden illustrate creation stories and cultural traditions through depictions of people, animals, and magical beings. The garden was the result of a collaborative project led by former anthropology graduate student Jim Mason, who invited ten artists from the Sepik River area to campus for a five-month residency program in 1994. The creation and installation process was uniquely community-focused, with daily tours, weekly lectures, Friday night barbecues, and musical jam sessions that took place throughout the artists’ stay. Today, the garden underscores the importance of the humanities at Stanford and remains a gathering place for the larger Stanford community.
In general, the presence of outdoor art on a university campus plays a significant role in student life. At Stanford, sculptures such as Joan Miro’s Oiseau, Alexander Calder’s The Falcon, and Francois Stahly’s The Flame Birds serve as campus landmarks for academic departments. White Memorial Fountain by Aristides “Aris” Demetrios has taken on particular importance for the Stanford student community. Affectionately known as “MemClaw” or simply as “The Claw,” the fountain was commissioned to memorialize two brothers in the class of 1949 who died in separate accidents before graduating.
The sixteen-foot sculpture sits in a sunken pool of water and is surrounded by concrete benches, creating an ideal place to soak up the sun or cool off with a dip in the water. Boat races and synchronized swimming events have occurred in the fountain, but “The Claw” is best known as a site for the rivalry between Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley. Each year, before the football “Big Game” between Stanford and Cal, the Stanford Band impales a teddy bear representing Cal’s mascot, Oski, at the top of the fountain. In recent years, this tradition has left traces of red paint, requiring specialized conservation work by trained professionals and museum staff. Conservation is only one component of maintaining the outdoor sculpture collection. A team of museum staff and students make up the Outdoor Sculpture Crew and are responsible for taking care of the
140 centerpieces | Stanford
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50