Outdoor Sculpture at Gettysburg College

Campus environments have always been exceptional locations to site outdoor sculpture and the number of colleges and universities with excellent collections is rising. The ongoing presence of works of art is particularly appropriate in a liberal arts context, for the curriculum itself involves exploring ways in which new ideas can be expressed through a variety of forms, or old ideas can be expressed in new ways. The presence on campus of provocative sculptural works by contemporary artists therefore adds to what is already happening in the classroom. In addition it provides students, faculty and staff with a changing everyday visual field. Confronting new artworks on a regular basis can alter the way we think about pre-existing structures and views on campus, hence making us more aware in general of our surroundings.

Situated on the quadrangle in front of the Science Center is Robert Mangold's Anemotive Kinetic (1997), a captivatingly beautiful stainless steel kinetic piece with an impressive light-reflecting quality. Perfectly sited to visually echo the horizontal forms on the fa�ade of the Science Center building, Anemotive Kinetic is a noteworthy addition to the campus landscape. Mangold is an acclaimed sculptor whose works are held by museums internationally and who is a past winner of the prestigious Henry Moore Grand Prize Exhibition in Tokyo. According to Mangold, "I am fascinated by man-made mechanical, quasimechanical and electrochemical time, space, motion as I am by the dynamic and energetic activities of nature." Sensitive to the slightest movement of air, the funnel-shaped forms which make up the upper sphere turn animatedly within their circumscribed space. The result is a sculpture that is always alive with motion and light. Mangold lives and works in Denver.

At the intersection of several pathways near the College Union Building sits Terrence Karpowicz's stone and metal sculpture, Tattooed (2004). Designed specifically for Gettysburg College, Karpowicz's work, according to the artist, "represents the struggles we must peacefully engage as we attempt to come to terms with differences. . . our goals, values, and hopes for the future." Formally this idea is played out in the overall structure of the piece, the three tiered base suggesting the foundations upon which we build societies (for the artist, these values are faith, respect and consideration). The soaring granite tower represents our struggles to adhere to these concepts and the dots of red the blood that has been spilled across history when society has been unable to resolve its conflicts. Karpowicz is a Chicago sculptor whose works are in many public and private collections.

Glenn Zweygardt's Trilogy Graces (2002), a monumental, tripartite work of stone, cast iron, bronze, and cast glass, is located in the green space between Schmucker Hall and the Kline Theatre. Zweygardt combines a variety of sculptural mediums to produce a unified grouping that is alternately transparent and opaque, figurative and abstract. Although the title is probably a reference to the three graces of Greek and Roman mythology, as with any work of art, the sculpture's meaning can be altered by its context. The work's placement on campus within the immediate environment of the theatre building suggests another interpretation; the three "figures" perhaps representing the three genres of Shakespearean drama: comedy, tragedy and history.

The stone sculpture, Sentinel (1982), by Martin Puryear, one of the most important twentieth-century American sculptors, was commissioned to commemorate the College's sesquicentennial anniversary, and has occupied the triangle of ground just west of Pennsylvania Hall for over twenty years. Sentinel was Puryear's first outdoor stone piece, and is now recognized by scholars as a major achievement within this highly-honored artist's career. Built of mortar and a wide variety of indigenous stones, the sculpture's materials were intentionally chosen by the artist to suggest the tradition of local stone barn and farmhouse construction. Part of Sentinel's subtle beauty lies in its constantly changing form, the general appearance and feel of the piece altering as one encounters it from different angles-indeed, Sentinel's shape seems to metamorphose from a natural form reminiscent of a whale's dorsal fin to a more overtly man-made structure suggestive of an ancient relic, a columnar plinth or pillar.

Also recently on loan to the College were two magnificent stone steles from the Forest of Stone Steles series by world-renowned Chinese artist Gu Wenda. Part of a grouping of 50 carved stone slabs containing the artist's innovative retranslation and rewriting of Tang poetry, the pieces are now reunited with the rest of the pieces in this series for a major exhibition in China.

Molly S. Hutton, Ph.D.
Director
Schmucker Art Gallery
Gettysburg College