Outdoor works of art can be viewed at any time, interior works of art can be viewed during the  individual building's open hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

University Museums
Iowa State University
290 Scheman Bldg.
Ames, Iowa  50011
515.294.3342
Fax: 515.294.3342

       

The Elizabeth and Byron Anderson Sculpture Garden

Located south of Morrill Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

 

Background Information

 

Invited to sculpt and teach at Iowa State during the depths of the Great Depression, Christian Petersen did not anticipate that he would remain on campus for the remainder of his career.  When he retired in 1955, Petersen had created twelve major sculptures for the campus, sculpted hundreds of studio works of art, and taught thousands of Iowa State students to mold a work of art from a lump of clay or a carve a figure from a limestone block.  As a teacher Christian Petersen molded minds, and as an artist he sculpted campus landmarks. His is an enduring legacy of learning and expression.

 

Elizabeth Brookhart and Byron Anderson were students at Iowa State in the 1950s and often met on the steps of Morrill Hall as they began their social engagements. During her final summer at Iowa State, Elizabeth was Christian Petersen’s only student during the session, and in the warmth of summer she created her own Blue Boy. From this experience of sculpting in clay with the master’s assistance, Elizabeth developed a deep appreciation for the visual arts which she has carried throughout her life.  After graduation, Elizabeth and Byron married, raised three children and traveled the world as part of Byron’s career with Mobil Oil Corporation. 

 

In 2005, Elizabeth joined the Iowa State movement to further commemorate Christian Petersen. Since Elizabeth carried Christian’s legacy in her heart, she funded in-depth research into Petersen’s early, and nearly forgotten, artistic career.  The result was the inaugural exhibition, Christian Petersen: Urban Artist, 1900-1934 at the new Christian Petersen Art Museum from March to August 2007. Immediately following the opening of the Christian Petersen Art Museum, Elizabeth generously funded the new sculpture garden surrounding this historic campus building adjacent to the iconic and beautiful central campus.  The Elizabeth and Byron Anderson Sculpture Garden celebrates the sculptural legacy of Christian Petersen by presenting his art, as well as contemporary sculptors of our own time.  From these visual expressions, the campus community can explore, discover and engage in strong ideas, interpretations and concepts that are embedded in the educational experience broadening our aesthetic understandings.

 

The Elizabeth and Byron Anderson Sculpture Garden is an important artistic and educational addition to the University Museums.  The new sculpture garden will profoundly enrich the artistic relationships between the Christian Petersen Art Museum and the Art on Campus Collection by providing changing exhibitions, based on a two-year cycle, of loaned sculptures from contemporary artists, as well as sculpture from the permanent collections.  While the Elizabeth and Byron Anderson Sculpture Garden will provide opportunity for formal integration of art into the academic curriculums at Iowa State, it will also provide accessibility for casual visitation of art, without any hint of an obligation by the viewer to look at or think about the art, let along treat it with reverence. 

 

Introduction to the Gardens

Living with sculptural art, both casually and with repeated exposure, can lead to understanding and appreciation, and I would hope passion.  It is a wish that over time each campus community member will intellectually and emotionally respond to individual sculptures in their own unique way, sometimes ignoring, sometimes delighting, often optimistic the sculpture will elicit a strong response—either positive or negative. Thinking and feeling are the most important reactions to art—to experience new feeling, to escape for a moment from one’s routine—the most meaningful aspect is to interact with the art over time, to develop a relationship, and to create a new friend!

 

As the Art on Campus Collection expands with new sculptures by major American and international artists, these artists may also be invited to the Elizabeth and Byron Anderson Sculpture Garden to present a broader selection of their art, thereby allowing the Iowa State community to know and understand their art in a larger and more complete context.  Simultaneously, selected sculpture from the University Museums Permanent Collections, including sculpture by Christian Petersen, will also be placed in the Elizabeth and Byron Anderson Sculpture Garden to compliment and contrast with the changing exhibitions.  Accompanying the loaned sculpture exhibitions will be educational programs and scholarly publications to inform, delight and engage the campus audience in the arts and visual literacy and learning. 

 

The exhibition schedule in the Elizabeth and Bryon Anderson Sculpture Garden focuses on contemporary sculpture, while referencing previous artistic traditions.  Christian Petersen believed, and most artists would agree, great art is created in and of its own time, thus the sculpture garden will be of its time, where sculptors are responding to and expressing the issues of today.

 

Sculptor Bill Barrett installed Bravo III at the Gerdin Business Building in 2007, and the inaugural exhibition at the Elizabeth and Byron Anderson Sculpture Garden is Exquisite Balance: Sculptures by Bill Barrett.  Expressing joy through abstraction, Barrett creates his own calligraphic forms that dance in the wind and movements of the outdoor environment.  The six sculptures in the exhibition will be presented along the south pathway of the sculpture garden.

 

Christian Petersen, Remembered is an exhibition commemorating the human figure in narrative style, exploring the legacy of Abraham Lincoln, and the Morrill Act as well as rural, Iowa life. Selections from the Art on Campus Collection by artists Harriet Bart and Albert Paley, are represented in the sculpture garden to help the viewer understand the impact of such a vast public art collection on the Iowa State University campus.

 

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