Landrum Art Donation

A man of great intelligence, adventure, imagination and vision with many and varied interests, Mark Landrum had a vision for giving that went beyond the usual limits. This past year, the ecu foundation, Inc. was fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of his generosity.

will not have had this type of hands-on experience.” Music majors also have benefited The Landrum Donation “The donation was a significant from Landrum’s generosity. Skye Garcia SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE boom to this university,” Dr. Brad Jessop, challenged his music composition class

Marquis Landrum bequeathed a director of the school of fine arts, said. to write an original work inspired by significant share of his personal art “It filled in the gaps with our current pieces in the sculpture garden. collection to the ECU Foundation, Inc. in collection.” Stephen Timperley, instrumental honor of his mother Ruth, who taught at music major from Tecumseh, composed ECU in the 1930s. He credited her with LIMITLESS OPPORTUNITIES “To the Napu” (2014) after touring the instilling in him a love of music and the Art students and their professors exhibit. arts. have been studying and researching the “I was inspired to write a piece

“It is unbelievable that the ECU works since installation. based on the music where the sculptures Foundation is loaning this amazing “It has really furthered my under- originated, the Napu Valley and other collection to the University,” Dr. Taryn standing of art,” said Chelsie Austin, areas of the Indonesian Islands in the Far Chubb, assistant professor of art, said. graphic arts major from Morris. “We East,” Timperley said. “After I looked into

The Ruth Walker Landrum Collection, can understand the history of the island the music of the area, the idea quickly which opened in August 2013, includes people, their culture, how they valued became a challenge. With the exotic 27 three-dimensional works, almost their ancestors and the impact their art scales and instruments impossible to entirely of non-western origin, housed had on their tribe. It has really been a fun mimic, I decided to step out of the box in various galleries throughout the Hallie experience.” a bit and create a modern version of my Brown Ford Fine Arts Center. Students, along with their teachers take on the style, using instruments I had

Items range from the eight stone and workers from the Physical Plant, at my disposal.” sculptures from Southeast Asia on display installed the pieces after they arrived. in the Inasmuch Sculpture Garden to a They are actively involved in maintaining BOOM FOR THE COMMUNITY funeral shroud from Peru, a Thai vessel the works including making adjustments, Traffic in the HBFFAC has accounted encrusted with sea life from the bottom of dusting the cabinets, leveling items and for 10,200 visitors to the collection since the ocean to a forged iron knife from the building pedestals. They also keep a its debut. Landrum’s gift helps further Sudan. The single western work is a flint watchful eye over the collection during establish Ada and the Arts District as a Celt from Denmark. the day. tourist destination and cultural hub for

Antiquities co-exist with 20th Century “It is an experience most under- southeast Oklahoma. pieces. Four hundred pound sculptures graduates do not get,” Chubb said. “They “These acquisitions have made ECU share space with hand-held drinking will be at an advantage when they go to home to the best collection of artworks cups. graduate school. Most of their colleagues between Dallas and Norman and add

significantly to the learning and cultural resources available to students in this region,” Jessop said.

END OF A LONG JOURNEY

From the Nias and Sumba Islands in Indonesia to East Central University, Nias Anthropomorphic Effigy stands watch on the Pacific Coast from its former home in the Landrum gardens in Santa Barbara, Calif. The sculpture arrived at ECU with its base filled with water from being outdoors which made it extra heavy for the students, physical plant employees and professors who installed it. Workers stood ready to set up Penji as it made its way into the HBFFAC. Mike Trabado (from left), Galen Hesson, Lam Dinh, Brandon Dixon, David Smith, Brad Jessop and Chance Brown captured the moment of triumph after placing Nias Anthropomorphic Effigy in its home next to Penji in the Inasmuch Sculpture Garden.

MARQUIS LANDRUM

Marquis Carl Landrum, 73, died Aug. 25, 2012, at his Columbia, Mo., home.

Mark Landrum held primary responsibility for his family’s century-old banking enterprise for several decades and saw it grow from its twin roots in Mountain View, Mo., and Tishomingo into Landmark Bank, with 41 locations in three states. Even as the bank grew to include many disparate communities, he continued to advocate the philosophy of hometown banking, which meant local banks serving the people, families and businesses of 29 small communities. Mr. Landrum was born June 6, 1939 in Ardmore to Ruth (Walker) and Carl Landrum. He grew up in Tishomingo where his father owned First State Bank, his mother taught school and his grandmother operated the Walker Hotel. The family later moved to Hobbs, N.M., to start a bank. He attended Hobbs High School, graduating first in his class in 1957. He was a standout high school basketball player. Most summers called him home to Ardmore and Tishomingo to work in the bank or on the family ranch.

Mark chose Yale University to pursue a deep study of literature and to play collegiate basketball. He served in the U.S. Army from 1962 to 1964 with active duty as a first lieutenant in Munich, Germany.

Upon returning, he studied at Harvard Law School and was awarded a juris doctorate in 1967. He began his employment at the Reno, Nev., law firm Bargas, Bartlett & Dixon in 1967, and a year later moved to New York to practice corporate law with Jacobs, Persinger & Parker.

A Gift that

Keeps on Giving

THE ARTWORKSomething for Everyone

The approachable Landrum pieces in the Inasmuch Sculpture Garden have proved to be both thought provoking and inspiring. The garden located in the Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center is open to the public weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Plantings were provided with a donation from the ceramicist and painter Marc Etier who passed away in 2013.

Napu Ancestor Head (picture above from left), from the Napu Valley in north central Sulawesi, Indonesia, has been the focus of extensive student research. They believe the basalt form is the product of someone’s life work and is all that remains from what was once a full body statue.

Vessel Encrusted with Sea Life, a 14th to 15th Century earthenware originally made in Sukhothai, Thailand, found at the bottom of the ocean, fascinates ceramics students.

Head, from the Nok culture in Nigeria, is terra-cotta from 600-200 BCE.

Warrior Shield from the Asmat Tribe (Irian Jaya) in Papua, New Guinea, was the last of the collection to be displayed. It, along with a funerary textile from Peru and a felted rug from Turkey, can be viewed in the north hallway leading from the Pogue Art Gallery.

Painted Fragment is probably an incomplete funerary textile from the Chancay Culture in Peru 1000-1500 CE.

Under the supervision of Dr. Brad Jessop, Chelsie Austin

tightens the bolts on the rod supporting Ladder, an early to

mid-20th Century wooden piece from the Dogon culture in Mali.