Page 14 / Wednesday, October 8, 2008
The Pendulum
Style ‘Sculpture walk’ unites Arts West with rest of campus Alexa Milan A&E Editor When students came back to Elon from summer vacation, many of them probably noticed something a little different about Haggard Avenue. The walk to Arts West, which once involved traipsing across people’s front yards, is now adorned with a new sidewalk and several huge sculptures. The plan for this new “sculpture walk” came together over the summer and involved a wide range of Elon staff, from President Leo Lambert to the art department faculty. The plan revolved around the idea of making the far side of campus more accessible and more attractive. “The idea is to link Elon West with the rest of campus,” said George Troxler, dean of cultural and special programs. Before the sculpture walk was put in place, Elon only had two pads to showcase sculptures outside the Center for the Arts. A sculpture walk was originally suggested by Anne Simpkins, associate professor of art. Lambert had been looking for other places on campus to display sculptures, so the plan for more outdoor artwork was added to the plan for more green space and walkways on Haggard Avenue. “The goal is to provide a better permanent place to display art on campus in a very visual way,” Troxler said. Tom Flood, superintendent of landscaping and grounds, came up with the architectural design, while Troxler was approached about acquiring the sculptures. There are now five pads along the walkway, starting just past Skids, and
andrew dodd | Photographer
The sculptures along Haggard Avenue create a scenic path to Elon’s Arts West building and seek to connect the building to the rest of campus. They will line the path for two more years before new sculptures will be rotated in to take their place. two pads at the end of the walkway next to the Arts West building. Troxler enlisted the help of Michael Fels and Mike Sanford, both professors of art, in finding enough sculptures to fill the pads. “There are surprisingly few artists doing large-scale work and the demand is quite high,” Fels said. Fels and Sanford are both members of Tri-State Sculptors and put the word out about the sculpture walk through the organization. Over the summer, Fels and Sanford found some available sculptures, mostly from professors and graduates of East Carolina University. Fels said the logistics of the project and coordinating delivery times
proved challenging as the only day the sculptures could be delivered turned out to be move-in day. The delivery of the sculptures did not actually interfere with the movein process, and Fels said the benefit of connecting Arts West to the main campus outweighed any difficulties. “There’s this great myth out there that we’re out in Antarctica, but really it’s about a five minute walk,” Fels said. Fels said the new sculpture walk should provide both a safe walk and a cultural trip to the art building. But the sculptures that are on Haggard Avenue right now won’t be there forever. Those sculptures will be in place for
two years before new sculptures will be rotated in. Next year, the Elon community will get to see a more temporary display of a larger number of sculptures. “Next year, we’re having a sculpture conference where we’ll have 100 to 120 sculptures for a limited time, both interior and exterior works,” Fels said. Troxler said that the sculpture walk should be enjoyable to those on campus and to the greater Elon community. A brochure is currently being designed that will feature pictures of the sculptures and give people more information about the project.