CAPITAL TIMES, April 4, 1990
New Sculpture Proposed for PSH
Eric Ebeling
Capiial Times Staff
Penn State Harrisburg students may
soon sun themselves next to an elaborate
sculpture featuring cascading water, a
stainless-steel column, and large slabs of
granite, if sculptor John Diamond Nigh's
plans become reality.
Diamond-Nigh, a 1988 Penn State
Harrisburg alumnus with a Bachelor of
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Arts degree, has proposed the structure to
the campus arts committee and the
provost. According to Dr. Ruth
Leventhal, both have approved the plan.
The sculpture will be rectangular,
surrounded by low seating platforms and
grass. A 13-foot-high stainless-steel
,pillar and two intersecting water-filled
trenches will highlight the piece.
Flowing water will cascade over three
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CAMPUS
differently hued slabs of granite near the
upper edge of the structure near a steel
pyramid and weathered boards.
Diamond-Nigh said he wants the
environmental sculpture to be functional
as well as beautiful. He hopes that it
will become the outdoor campus
gathering place that was missing during
his time here.
AUX
The right choice.
"When I was going to Capital as a
student, there was no place that
automatically came to mind that you
could go to and just sit and talk," said
the sculptor. "I think that moving water
is very conducive to just sitting and
thinking. . . or sitting and talking."
Hopefully the sculpture will be a "place
that would draw students to it to spend
some time."
The sculpture, which will cover
about 40 feet by 15 feet, will be built on
the lawn between the picnic tables and
the parking lot behind the Olmsted
Building. The piece will join the three
bronze statues, which have been loaned
to the college by the provost.
Troy Thomas, associate professor of
Humanities and Arts and a member of
the campus arts committee, said the
project will benefit the college. "John's
project will be representational and
abstract--a perfect counterpoint to the
realistic forms of the statues. The
sculpture will complement them," he
said.
It is not clear at this point where the
money to fund the project will come
from, or how much the project will cost.
Early estimates of about $12,000 for
materials alone may prove to be too
low. Leventhal said that the intial size
of the project was deemed too small for
space available.
The artist has erected a full-sized
plywood mock-up of the sculpture that
will determine the cost of the actual
piece.
The provost said money for the
project "would have to come out of
campus funds or it would come from
fundraising."
Linda Ross, Penn State Harrisburg
art instructor and arts committee
member, said, "This must be seen in the
context of long-term development for the
campus aesthetically. We hope to
actively try to acquire larger, permanent
pieces of art to be showcased in this
area."
Diamond-Nigh said that exposing
more students to many forms of art is
important. He would like to see his
proposed sculpture become a springboard
for newer, indigenous talent on campus
and can see his piece as "the genesis for
a whole collection of sculpture on
campus."
Diamond-Nigh was born and raised in
Ontario, Canada. He has received the
Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen Award
for Outstanding Craftsmanship in 1986
for a collection of hand-crafted work.
His accomplishments have also been
featured in the magazine Fine
Woodworking.
He had a number of sculptures on
exhibit at Messiah College in Upper
Allen Township last month, and a future
display containing five or six of his
pieces is planned for inclusion at a major
exhibition at the Woodmere Museum in
Philadelphia.
The Capital Times and you
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