Sunday, January 3, 2010

For Handel

For Handel
1975
sculpture by Mark di Suvero

The campus at Western Washington University, where I spent the better part of a decade, is home to an extensive collection of sculpture. Standing before the entrance to the Performing Arts Center, For Handel is perhaps the most recognizable installation on campus.

4 comments:

  1. I like the sculpture, and am a fan of public art. I'll have to visit the campus and wander a bit when I come to B'ham next summer for the local scooter rally.

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  2. I wonder why the school became such an important venue for sculpture.

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  3. Not only the most recognizable sculpture on campus but perhaps the largest? From this perspective it looks huge. Do you know what it represents?

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  4. Brattcat - in 1957 the trustees decided to start acuiring art in any new construction budget. I have no idea what started this tradition though.

    Jacob - I wasn't able to copy the description of the piece from WWU's website into the browser but it will let me post it here:

    ***

    For Handel, 1975
    © Mark di Suvero

    Painted steel
    27' h.

    Gift from the Virginia Wright Fund, 1974; installation cost from Performing Arts Center construction funds.
    Photo: Art on File, Seattle

    Di Suvero's knowledge of music and sensitivity to the relationship of art and architecture led him to create a soaring sculpture dedicated to the composer George Frederic Handel. Di Suvero's work rises not only from the roof of the rehearsal hall below but also projects beyond this roof/plaza and against a magnificent view of water, mountains and sky. Sometimes di Suvero is considered an "action sculptor" in the way he draws directly with the steel I- beams. In running his own truck cranes, in using his welding torch and in directing the blocks and cables, he attempts to build multi- dimensional structures which seem to overcome physical laws.

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