OnCampus
"Earth Mirrors" sculpture installed on Morningside College campus A new outdoor sculpture by artist Andréa Stanislav was installed in April near the Eppley Fine Arts Building on the Morningside College campus. “Earth Mirrors” consists of 10 two- to four-ton limestone rocks that have mirror-polished stainless steel plates attached to them. The rocks, which form a triangle, are positioned so that the mirror surfaces reflect each other, Eppley and the surrounding area. Stanislav said she created the sculpture to respond to the site in which it was placed, and to be in conversation with the site. “I was very concerned about the piece being harmonious with the site and also working as a connector between this particular area and the rest of the university,” she said. The process of developing the sculpture started with a sketch and several visits to the site. Stanislav was interested in using the actual landscape, which meant the rocks would be sitting on a hill. She also wanted to use stone indigenous to Iowa. “Originally, I was thinking of using granite, and then I started to talk to the geology department at Iowa State University about indigenous stone to Iowa and to the area,” she said. “Technically, granite boulders are not indigenous to Iowa because they come from the glacial shift. It’s limestone. There’s an Iowa limestone. It’s not Artist Andréa Stanislav cleans the mirror-polished stainless steel plate on a three-ton Indiana limestone, but it’s Iowa limestone and it has a limestone rock that was installed as part of the "Earth Mirrors" sculpture. much warmer color.” So Stanislav decided to go with Iowa limestone, which is the same color as the façade of Eppley Auditorium. She was referred to a limestone quarry in Anamosa, Iowa, where she obtained the rocks for the sculpture. The rocks originally came in block form, but Stanislav told the facility how to break the stones to make them look more organic. Then she traced by hand where she wanted a mirror to be placed on each stone, and she sent that information to a laser company in Minneapolis that cuts steel. Finally, she took the stainless steel plates to Anamosa to be attached to the rocks. The stones were shipped to Morningside on a truck and placed on cement footings that go four feet down. Steel pins even go up into the rocks to make sure they cannot be moved. “They’re not going to come out,” Stanislav said. “Nobody’s going to push them over. They should be happy for hundreds of years here.” Under Stanislav’s direction, the sculptures were put in place on April 13, and a dedication ceremony that This photo shows a portion of the "Earth Mirrors" sculpture installation near the evening marked completion of the installation. The Eppley Fine Arts Building. sculpture, commissioned by Morningside College, was the final element put in place for the college’s Hilker Campus Mall. Stanislav said the sculpture is appropriate for an educational institution like Morningside College because it is a place of discovery. “It’s very much about the viewer’s engagement as you move about the piece, sort of changing and shifting your visual perspective,” she said. “Once you walk into it, the idea is that there is this unexpected experience or surprise in the reflections. My hope is that it becomes sort of a destination where people will congregate.” Stanislav is a contemporary artist whose work includes sculpture, video installation, collage constructions and public art. Her work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions around the world.
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