New sculptures planted in 'Garden of Great Ideas'

by Tara S. Donahue

A trumpet fanfare played Nov. 13 during the unveiling of three new bronze sculptures added to the "Garden of Great Ideas" collection at Vanderbilt. Sponsored by the New York-based Newington-Cropsey Foundation (NCF), the "Garden of Great Ideas" includes outdoor art on permanent display at Vanderbilt and other campuses. The sculptures at Vanderbilt are a gift to the University by the NCF.

Photos by Neil Brake Kirsten Cadieux unveils "Map Turtle: Graptemys Geographica" in front of East Residence Hall on Peabody Campus while Chancellor Gordon Gee and other guests observe.

Greg Wyatt, director of the Academy of Art at the NCF and sculptor-in-residence at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City, oversees the creation of each sculpture in the Vanderbilt collection. Two of the 12 sculptures on campus were done by Wyatt. His works include the "Tree of Learning," unveiled last May and located near the campus entrance to the Central Library, and the"Bill of Rights Eagle," which was dedicated in 1997 and is on display at the entrance to Old Central.

The other sculptures, including the three installed in mid-October, were created by artists selected to interpret one topic inspired by "significant themes of human history," a list of ideas compiled from the works of recognized scholars. The artists whose works were recently unveiled came to campus last year to display their works-in-progress and to receive feedback from Vanderbilt faculty, staff and students. The artists also were involved in selecting a site for their piece.

Located between Tolman and McGill Halls, "The Fault" by Viviane Silvera explores the relationship between a mother and daughter.

"The aesthetics of campus reflect our ideas," said Chancellor Gordon Gee, who attended the unveilings. "Having young, vibrant people come inand give us their ideas of the University and the universe, and then by putting their ideas on the campus, allows all of us to enjoy the art, but also to reflect upon those ideas."

Due to inclement weather, remarks at the unveilings were brief. Following the unveilings, the artists spoke about their art at the Divinity Refectory during a luncheon.

"Map Turtle: Graptemys Geographica," by Kirsten Cadieux was dedicated in front of East Residence Hall on the Peabody campus. Working with the concept of "Mapping," Cadieux, who received her undergraduate degree in Visual and Environmental Studies from Harvard University and is currently a geology graduate student at the University of Toronto, explained that her sculpture "is about the struggle of people to create a place for themselves in the world."

The sculpture consists of a turtle with a map of the world on its shell and a human lying on his back underneath the shell.

 

Being II Becoming" by sculptor Stephen Schaum was unveiled on the exterior wall of Sarratt Student Center facing Fleming Yard.

"My sculpture is an interpretation of mapping the world," she said. Focusing on three North American cultural responses to land use -- technological/industrial, agricultural and hunter-gatherer -- Cadieux wanted the sculpture to reflect "the wilderness and rural life as they exist in the American cultural imagination."

Vermont resident and sculptor Stephen Schaum's "Being II Becoming" sculpture was unveiled on the exterior wall of Sarratt Student Center facing Fleming Yard. Working with the theme of "Changing Dynamics of Self," the sculpture consists of four human torsos composed of fragments or "plates."

The forms shift on each of the pieces because "the sculpture attempts to describe the self as an open form of constantly shifting surfaces, shifting and realigning into different combinations like the Earth's tectonic plates," Schaum said. "At any given moment, the earth seems static, solid, but the process of its formation is dynamic, a process of growth and change through time."

The third sculpture was created by Viviane Silvera, a sculptor and teacher in New York City. Titled "The Fault" and based on the topic "Moral Dichotomies," Silvera used the poem "Quake Theory" by Susan Olds to reflect on the question, "Why would a mother sacrifice her daughter?"

At the base on the sculpture, located between Tolman and McGill Halls, the words to the poem are inscribed. A mother bent over in apparent distress walks across the poem, while her infant daughter reaches up to her with outstretched arms.

"Within the exploration of the universal mistreatment of women, mothers themselves play a role in the violation and maiming of their own daughters," Silvera said. "Throughout all time societies have this in common, from the practice of female genital mutilation, to foot binding to mothers who force their daughters' bodies to standards of beauty and thinness.

"Mothers are put in a great cultural paradox when we conceive of them as nurturing while there are so many instances of maternal violence," she said.

The piece, according to the artist, is intended to be viewed from several perspectives. As the viewer moves around, the child's perspective, the mother's perspective and the outside party's perspective can all be seen.

The Newington-Cropsey Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., and is dedicated to studying, conserving and exhibiting the works of Hudson River School artist Jasper Francis Cropsey. Vanderbilt learned of the "Garden of Great Ideas" from U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, a 1967 graduate of Vanderbilt Law School, who saw a Newington-Cropsey presentation in Washington, D.C.