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Zephyr by Steve Wooldridge

Zephyr by Steve Wooldridge

TITLE: Zephyr
ARTIST: Steve Wooldridge
DATE: 1998
MATERIALS: stainless steel
DIMENSIONS: 13′ x 2′ x 10′
TYPE: sculpture

Zephyr (1998) is composed of seven shapes, each signaling a different meaning. According to artist Steven Woolridge, the rectangular base represents the core of education; the side-by-side cylinders refer to the wheels of progress; the triangle symbolizes a mode of transportation designed for speed; the small cylinder that supports the hoop signifies fortitude and determination; the hoop itself stands for the circle of life; the long pole represents ambition; and the hollow scroll stands for knowledge.

What do you reckon it all adds up to? What story might Woolridge be trying to tell? And why did he choose to dedicate the piece to today’s youth?

In Greek mythology, Zephyrus was the personification of the west wind, the bringer of light spring and early summer breezes. The Greeks are central to our imagination of progress. The wind is a force. It can be refreshing but also disruptive. It can be chaotic, but it can also be harnessed.

In Iroquois tradition, by contrast, the west wind is brought by the Panther, ugly and fierce.

How might the Iroquois understanding help us think about the nature of progress in light of certain ambitions? Are there new winds that can help us achieve the balance this sculpture demonstrates? What kind of knowledge and ambitions would we necessary to harness them?

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zephyr_(Wooldridge), which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”


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Weather Tower by Jerald Jacquard

TITLE: Weather Tower
ARTIST: Jerald Jacquard
DATE: 1985
MATERIALS: painted steel
DIMENSIONS: 20′ x 7′ x 6′
TYPE: sculpture


Jerald Jacquard’s deep purple Weather Tower (1985) stands 18 feet tall, offering playful witness to the coming and going of the seasons. How amusing it would be to remain steadfast while the world changed around us, Jacquard may be suggesting.

Weather Tower was acquired by the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1999, where it stood at the front entrance until it moved to IUPUI’s campus in 2005.

Born in Lansing, Michigan in 1937, Jacquard established a sculpture department at the University of Illinois, Chicago and later was a professor of art at Indiana University for more than 25 years. He has been awarded several major awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Tower, which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”

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Untitled (L’s) by David Von Schlegell

Untitled (L's) by David Von Schlegell

TITLE: Untitled (L’s)
ARTIST: David Von Schlegell
DATE: ca. 1978
MATERIALS: Brushed Stainless Steel
DIMENSIONS: 55′ x 45′ x 12″
TYPE: sculpture


Untitled (L’s) (1978), by American abstract artist David Von Schlegell, uses line and perspective to reorient our relationship to space as a dimension.

Meant to act as a representation of the Pythagorean Theorem, this trio of 45-feet long by 55-feet tall figures are arranged so that each foot of the vertical bars together form the points of a right triangle.

If you are not a mathematician, have no fear: the L’s encourage interaction. Have a seat and enjoy the view!

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untitled_(L%27s), which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”

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Untitled (IUPUI Letters) by Two Twelve

Untitled (IUPUI Letters) by Two Twelve

TITLE: Untitled (IUPUI Letters)
ARTIST: Two Twelve
DATE: 2008
MATERIALS: stainless steel
TYPE: sculpture

Untitled (IUPUI Letters) consists of five 7’5” tall letters which can be apprehended singularly or together to form the acronym of the university. The letter enclosures sit perpendicular to the full cabinets, giving each letter a multidimensional appearance.

Lead designer David Gibson, an architect who specializes in public information design, imagined the sculpture as a public way-finding tool, helping visitors to locate the new Campus Center building. This installation speaks to the power of public art in place-making, rendering the Campus Center identifiable to visitors. New York design firm Two Twelve collaborated with Indianapolis-based ASI Modulex to fabricate and install the sculpture.

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untitled_(IUPUI_Letters), which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”

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Unknown (Tall Metal) by Carey Chapman

TITLE: Untitled (Tall Metal)
ARTIST: Cary Chapman
DATE: 2001
MATERIALS: steel
DIMENSIONS: 16′ x 4’8″ x 3′
TYPE: sculpture


Untitled stands sixteen feet tall on a series of geometric shapes. Constructed of steel, it was originally black, and has been weathered red by time. Untitled was created in 2001 by Cary Chapman, then a senior sculpture student at the Herron School of Art and Design, for an exhibition coordinated by the IUPUI Campus Art Committee. The choice not to name a work of art is an invitation for the reader to encounter it more fully on their own terms. After a deep engagement with the piece, is there a name you would imagine giving it?

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untitled_(Cary_Chapman),  which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”

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The South Tower by Don Gummer

The South Tower by Don Gummer

TITLE: The South Tower
ARTIST: Don Gummer
DATE: 1998
MATERIALS: Stainless Steel
DIMENSIONS: 10′ x 2′ x 3′
TYPE: sculpture

On his way to his New York studio one autumn morning in 2001, Indiana-raised Don Gummer saw the South Tower of the World Trade Center fall during the 9/11 terror attacks. “It’s seared into my memory,” he said.

The South Tower (2008), Gummer’s 10 foot tall aluminum sculpture memorializing that moment, is an example of how art can be used to work through a trauma that is both personal and public. The leaning, quivering S-shape of the stainless steel that emerges from vertically-louvered design confers a sense of the inevitable in a moment that many of us never imagined was possible.

Gummer has won awards from the American Academy in Rome, the National Endowment of the Arts, and the Tiffany Foundation. His works are generally large in scale, complex, and benefit from sustained experience over time. Together with his wife, the great actor Meryl Streep, Gummer is also an activist philanthropist. His sculpture, Open Eyes (2011), is also installed on campus.

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_South_Tower_(sculpture), which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”

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Temple VI by Austin Collins

Temple VI by Austin Collins

TITLE: Temple VI
ARTIST: Austin Collins
DATE: 1996
MATERIALS: Steel
DIMENSIONS: 10′ 4″ x 3′ 8″ x 2′ 6″
TYPE: sculpture

Close your eyes and imagine a temple. Got it? Now open your eyes and have a look at Austin Collins’ Temple VI (1996).

Is it any different than what you saw in your mind’s eye? How?

Do you think this sculpture is a temple? Why or why not?

Collins, a Holy Cross priest and a professor of sculpture at the University of Notre Dame, described this series as follows: “In my recent work, The Temple Series, I hope to invoke in the viewer a sense of sacred space, of retreating, of reflection. By constructing a space with abstract geometric steel forms, referencing architecture, games, and toys, Temple VII generates a bodily response from both structure and composition.”

How do you feel in the space that this temple provides?

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_VI, which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”

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Talking Wall by Bernard Williams

Talking Wall by Bernard Williams

TITLE: Talking Wall, 2015
ARTIST: Bernard Williams
DATE: 2015
MATERIALS: steel, paint
DIMENSIONS: 144 x 244 x 79 inches
TYPE: sculpture


The phrase, “if walls could talk,” often refers to secrets to be told. In the case of Bernard Williams’ Talking Wall (2015), this idiom is inverted. The wall is telling us a story of Indianapolis’ past.

Stand before the work and you stand—literally and figuratively—within the outlines of Indianapolis’ great African-American history. The patterns you see are derived from African decorative carving and textiles, as well as from African-American quilt making. Nationally recognized figures such as entrepreneur and activist, Madame C.J. Walker (1867-1919); track and cycling champion, Marshall “Major” Taylor (1878-1932); jazz guitartist, Wes Montgomery (1923-1968); are all here. Shining over them is the North Star, that great symbol of hope, freedom, and dignity that guided so many away from the terrors of slavery.

The site of the work is itself significant. Once the location of IPS School 4, one of the original ward public schools, it welcomed both black and white students until 1922 when it was designated for African-American children only. In 1953, a new IPS School 4 building—also segregated—was constructed just north of the original and named in honor of Mary Ellen Cable (1862-1944), an African-American woman who was renowned as a School 4 teacher and principal and as a civic leader. Cable founded the Indianapolis branch of the NAACP and served as the first president of both its Indianapolis and Indiana chapters.

In a world where walls do the work of silencing, Talking Wall gives voice to the hidden histories of Indianapolis in the hope that someone like yourself is ready and open to listen.

The Central Indiana Community Foundation and the Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene & Marilyn Glick provided the funds for this sculpture. To see more art celebrating Indianapolis’ African American history, check out John Spaulding’s Jammin’ on the Avenue and (Untitled) Jazz Musicians on Indiana Avenue.

To learn more about this artwork, visit http://www.indyartsguide.org/public-art/talking-wall/, which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”

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Spirit Keeper by Steve Wooldridge

Spirit Keeper by Steve Wooldridge

TITLE: Spirit Keeper
ARTIST: Steve Wooldridge
DATE: 2007
MATERIALS: stainless steel
DIMENSIONS: 6.5′ x 3.2′ x 3.2′
TYPE: sculpture

Abstraction can trigger resemblance. What do you see in Spirit Keeper (2007) by Hoosier artist Steve Wooldridge? A sail? A leaf? An ear? A flower petal? A flame? Or something else?

What you see doesn’t have to remain fixed, of course. As we change over time, so does our perception of things.

Our experiences offer up potential for remembrance and connection, giving us new ways to perceive, engage with, and understand our world so long as we remain open to possibilities.

Wooldridge graduated with a degree in sculpture in 1963, at what was then known as Herron Art Institute. Spirit Keeper was donated to IUPUI in 2007 by Norma Winkler, owner of Indianapolis’ Rock Island Refining Corporation, which produced the stainless steel for this sculpture. If you like this piece, be sure to check out Zephyr (1998), another Wooldridge sculpture on campus.

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_Keeper, which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”

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Punctuation Spire by William Crutchfield

Punctuation Spire by William Crutchfield

TITLE: Punctuation Spire
ARTIST: William Crutchfield
DATE: 1981
MATERIALS: Wood, steel, aluminum
DIMENSIONS: 28h x 4w feet, 6 feet diameter, 3000 lbs.
TYPE: sculpture


The towering, playful Punctuation Spire (1981) makes full use of the airy space of the Campus Center atrium. Artist William Richard Crutchfield (1932-2015) originally created the 28-foot sculpture for a shopping center in California. It is one in a series of towers that offer tribute to “the symbols of our modern written language.” (The others feature the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0 through 9, and the word “wish.”)

Like the monolithic obelisks of ancient times, Punctuation Spire demonstrates the power of art in place-making. Donated to the Herron School of Art and Design, it installed in the Campus Center in 2010.

Crutchfield was an internationally exhibited artist and Indianapolis native best known for his painting and printmaking. He received his B.F.A. from Herron in 1956.

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punctuation_Spire_(Crutchfield), which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”

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Procession of Ants by David Bowen

Procession of Ants by David Bowen

TITLE: Procession of Ants
ARTIST: David Bowen
DATE: 1999
MATERIALS: steel
DIMENSIONS: 3.5′
TYPE: sculpture

Procession of Ants (1998) is a collection of fifteen ant sculptures arranged in the sunken flower bed on the south side of Taylor Hall. Each is three and a half feet long. How many can you spot in total? Here’s a hint: some are on the wall. Ants have tiny claws and adhesive hairs on their feet that are essentially sticky pads that allow them to climb walls. David Bowen created this piece as a student at the Herron School of Art and Design. His work explores the dynamic between art, biosystems, and technology.

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procession_of_Ants_(sculpture), which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”

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Orange Curves by Brent Gann

Orange Curves by Brent Gann

TITLE: Orange Curves
ARTIST: Brent Gann
DATE: 2000
MATERIALS: painted steel
DIMENSIONS: 4′ x 4′ x 3′
TYPE: sculpture

Created by Herron School of Art and Design alumnus Brent Gann, Orange Curves (2000) is a four foot tall sculpture consisting of three interlocking steel curves, painted orange. Walk around the sculpture and see how perspective changes your perceptions of it. Is the work abstract or representational? Is it a play on shape or typography? Might the curves be chain links that have been broken? Metal is cast, welded or both to create a sculpture; Orange Curves shows evidence of both. Gann is an American artist who obtained B.F.A.s in both visual communication and sculpture from Herron School of Art and Design in 2000, who has since worked in graphic design.

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Curves,  which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”

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Open Eyes by Don Gummer

Open Eyes by Don Gummer

TITLE: Open Eyes
ARTIST: Don Gummer
DATE: 2011
MATERIALS: Steel, glass
DIMENSIONS: 16′
TYPE: sculpture

Open Eyes (2011) is one of two artworks featured on campus by Herron School of Art and Design alumnus, Don Gummer.

The 16-foot-tall sculpture features a series of ocular shapes encased in a frame resembling a double helix that manages to achieve balance in the midst of movement.

Commissioned by the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute for display in the their courtyard, there is an adjustable spotlights on each side of the piece that illuminate the sculpture at night.

Gummer has won awards from the American Academy in Rome, the National Endowment of the Arts, and the Tiffany Foundation. His works are generally large in scale, complex, and benefit from sustained experience over time. Together with his wife, the great actor Meryl Streep, Gummer is also an activist philanthropist.

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Eyes,  which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”

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Mother’s Helper by Derek Chalfant

Mother's Helper by Derek Chalfant

TITLE: Mother’s Helper
ARTIST: Derek Chalfant
DATE: 1998
MATERIALS: stainless steel, bronze
DIMENSIONS: 15′ x 8′ x 3′
TYPE: sculpture

Can you discern all the forms that figure into Indiana-born Derek Chalfant’s provocative Mother’s Helper (1998)? Let’s start from the top: a baby’s high chair extends downward via exaggerated legs to the ground where it transforms into a rocker, straddling what appears to be a recumbent Christian Cross. At the head of the cross, there are two bronze objects: a baby and a cast of the “Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary.” How might these pieces come together to tell a story, ask a question, or make a statement?

According to Chalfant, “the high chair represents nutrients needed for life, the rocker symbolizes rest and nurturing, the baby with its head on the dictionary represents knowledge, and the cross is a symbol of spirituality—all ingredients needed for human growth.”

Can you imagine other ways of arranging these ingredients? Are there other ingredients for human growth that you might include?

A Herron alumnus who is now associate professor of art at Elmira College in Upstate New York, Chalfant’s research includes designing and making sculpture and furniture specializing in wood and metal fabrication, as well as casting metal and glass.

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother%27s_Helper_(sculpture),  which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”

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Glory by Garry Bibbs

Glory by Garry Bibbs

TITLE: Glory
ARTIST: Garry Bibbs
DATE: 1999
MATERIALS: bronze & steel
DIMENSIONS: 30′ x 8′ x 1′
TYPE: sculpture

Glory (1999), by African-American artist Garry R. Bibbs, was commissioned by local philanthropist Joseph F. Miller to adorn his eponymous center dedicated to combatting HIV and AIDS.

Because the site once housed the Second Baptist Church, one of the city’s oldest African-American Baptist churches, Bibbs drew on African-American traditions (including jazz), along with the Bible’s book of Ezekiel, to create a work meant to instill joy and hope.

Bibbs’ writes of his work: “Through my art, I want to share honesty about my human experiences, my African American heritage and my environment, whether it is good, bad or indifferent. Life is so precious, so it is important that my viewers feel enlightened, uplifted and free. They should be made aware that there is an answer, a power and a glory. So live a good life and be gracious in God’s creative beauty, which we are given to use as we call, the ARTS.”

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_(sculpture), which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”

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Entangled by Brose Partington

Entangled by Brose Partington

TITLE: Entangled
ARTIST: Brose Partington
DATE: 2004
MATERIALS: painted steel
DIMENSIONS: 9′ x 7’4” x 8’2”
TYPE: sculpture

What might a sculpture made by the son of a clock repairman look like? Indiana-based artist Brose Partingonton’s Entangled (2004) offers a glimpse. Consisting of eight interconnecting pieces that resemble the gears and mechanisms found in his father’s old Indianapolis clock repair shop, Partington’s abstract timepiece gives us time to think about the relationship between mechanics and nature.

“I’m currently building structures as parallels to patterns of natural occurrences,” explains the artist. “My work examines the subtle movements around us, and the patterns those movements create. I am trying to compare the cyclical patterns found in nature with manufactured objects, environments, and modes of transportation.”

In a world where manufacturing jobs are in decline and automation is on the rise, might Entangled be seen as a kind of memorial to the lost art of traditional craftsmanship? What can we do with the remains of time’s past?

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entangled_(Partington),  which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”

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East Gate/West Gate by Sasson Soffer

East Gate/West Gate by Sasson Soffer

TITLE: East Gate/West Gate
ARTIST: Sasson Soffer
DATE: 1973
MATERIALS: stainless steel
DIMENSIONS: 23′ x 30′ x 17′
TYPE: sculpture

Sasson Soffer’s East Gate/West Gate (1973) acts as a fulcrum for one of the main courtyards on the IUPUI Campus, its ceaseless swirling loops amplifying the dynamism of campus life.

Although it may appear at first as one entangled unit, follow the lines from any point on the stainless steel piping to discover a pair of figures locked in a kind of dance, repartee, or conversation.

Gates normally exist to grant or bar entrance to a place, announcing and policing boundaries. East Gate/West Gate is situated well inside the bounds of the university, however, paying no heed to traditional border markings. Instead, East and West are infused. Access points are not singular or static, but multiple and dynamic.

How might this piece help us re-imagine borders in more dynamic ways?

Soffer (1926-2009) was an Iraqi-American abstract painter and sculptor of Jewish heritage who studied under the artist Mark Rothko in New York. (If you are an admirer of the work of Paul Klee or Joan Miró, see if you can spot their influence on this piece.)

On loan from Newfields, the sculpture was delivered, via helicopter, in 2009.

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Gate/West_Gate,  which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”

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DNA Tower by Dale Chihuly

DNA Tower by Dale Chihuly

TITLE: DNA Tower
ARTIST: Dale Chihuly
DATE: 2003
MATERIALS: glass, steel, wood
DIMENSIONS: 20′ 3″ x 4′ 8″
TYPE: sculpture

DNA Tower (2003) consists of 1,200 blue, yellow, and pink spheres attached to a central core in a spiraling design that imitates the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The tower comes in at 20 feet tall; for comparison, if you stretched out the DNA in just one human cell, it would amount to around six feet of DNA!

Internationally-renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly created DNA Tower to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the IU School of Medicine, which also happened to be the 50th anniversary of the discovery of DNA, the self-replicating material that carriers genetic information.

A spectacular testament to the bonds between structure and suprise, unity and diversity, this jubilant tower locates hope in reproductive processes where selves produce others and similarity breeds diversity.

Chihuly’s iconic work can also be found at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, as well as Newfields.

To learn more about this artwork, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_Tower , which includes information created by Herron School of Art and Design and IUPUI Museum Studies faculty and students in 2009 as part of “A Survey of IUPUI Public Art.”