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Category: Wood

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Untitled (Faces) by Ellerbe Associates

Untitled (Faces) by Ellerbe Associates

TITLE: Untitled (Faces)
ARTIST: Ellerbe Associates
DATE: 1986
MATERIALS: wood, metal, stone
DIMENSIONS: 11′ x 2.5′ x 1′
TYPE: sculpture


Untitled (Faces) consists of an archway with lion faces, a low wall with alternating cherubs and lions, and a tree stump with a face, a sun, and a moon. Livening up the plaza, the work opens up the possibility for creative interaction with the building and leisurely play. How many faces can you count? In moments of stress and insecurity, sometimes the greatest gift art can give us is a brief respite—a welcome escape into a world of imagination and fantasy.

The plaza, designed as a place for patients and visitors to relax and eat, was created by Ellerbe Associates of Bloomington, Minnesota as part of the $56 million expansion on Riley Hospital for Children in 1986. The wall of the plaza was a part of this expansion, with Ellerbe incorporating red brick into the design to commemorate Riley Hospital for Children’s first building.

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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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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.”