CAPITAL TIMES, May 2, 1990
Campus flrit
Extracted from Commentary by
Troy Thomas, Associate Professor of
Humanities and Art
The exhibit (outdoor sculpture
exhibition) is part of our Earth Day
celebration, and several pieces in the
show do indeed comment on
theenvironment in some explicit way.
But more generally, the idea behind the
exhibit is the interaction of artists with
the environment, how human beings can
make positive statements that grace
rather than disgrace nature. Some
students have questioned the use of so
called industrial materials by some of the
sculptors; I would simply ask them to
use their eyes, without prejudice, before
passing judgment. Let me make a
suggestion: try to forget the industrial
associations of steel, for example, and
look at what is really happening: how
shapes, sometimes graceful and
sometimes powerful, interact in space;
how color contrasts with the green grass
background; how, in some works, the
sky is reflected on smooth surfaces; how
ideas (stretch your mind! they're there)
talk to you through visual form. The
following comments, briefly addressing
each piece, are intended to help you
look.
SCULPTURES BEHIND THE
OLMSTED BUILDING
Duane McDiarmid, Ev
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Commentary
Steps/A Frightened Bear: The cabin-like
construction (do you see a Japanese
influence in its translucent walls?) is
meant to be penetrated by the viewer--
yes, you may walk in it. When you do,
tiny bells attached to the floor ring,
signalling a human invasion of nature.
Various projections force you to bow as
you walk through the building,
symbolizing your reverence toward
nature. The bear, looking like a
Byzantine icon set off by a gilded
surround, symbolizes the all-powerful
forces of nature. The structure faces
west, so that in the late afternoon, the
bear's shadow is cast upon a screen. This
ghostly shadow symbolizes the fragility
of nature. McDiarmid teaches sculpture
at Franklin and Marshall College.
John Diamond-Nigh (2 sculptures),
Patmos Tree: This piece, made mainly
of wood, contrasts the smooth geometry
•of boat-like curves and planes to the
unhidden materials of their construction
(luscious, dripping glue and glittering
screws). Walking around the sculpture
allows one to see a thrilling sequence of
curves and negative spaces (the "boat"
and its interior). The raw, unpainted
wood reflects the artist's love affair with
natural - wood and with the craft tradition
from which his sculpture evolved.
Requiem: Steel Books: This
monumental slab of steel, somewhat
threatening with its jagged, metallic
teeth encircling it like a necklace, takes
CAMPUS
its cue from the Minimalist school of
the sixties and seventies. The largely
unrelieved expanse of planar metal
throws one back on one's own resources,
forcing one to interpret the work from
private associations and feelings (this is
intentional). Diamond-Nigh, a summa
cum laude graduate of Penn State
Harrisburg, has taught sculpture at
Messiah college.
Michael Pascucci, Self Image U: Here
we see an elegant revival of the Cubist
idiom in a monumental bronze piece
with a rich, dark brown patina. Notice
the double circle carved out in negative
space near the top, a form that suggests
the head of a standing figure. The elegant
form below, now curved, now angular,
jutting out left and right, suggest a
figure activating the space before it,
while the pole-like form behind suggests
stasis and stability. Pascucci, a free-lance
bronze sculptor, teaches at the Bucks
County Community College.
Jeremey Jernegan, stanchion jj: This
sculpture looks like wood, but has a
marvelous, lustrous depth of color, like
porcelian. Actually, it is ceramic,
assembled from slip-cast wooden forms
(the work is therefore a technical tour-de
force). This sculpture, with its imposing
grid-like structure, suggests humankind's
efforts to create enduring, monumental
structures. But the ceramic material
suggests the underlying fragility of man
made forms, hence the pretension of our
species and the ultimate futility of our
efforts to conquer nature. Jeremy
Jernegan teaches sculpture at Dickinson
College.
Peter Jon Snyder, Rano Raraku:
Snyder's large, squarish steel work is
unexpectedly painvd in delightfully
gaudy colors. It seems like a painting as
much as a sculpture. The yellow and
purple paint are meant to contrast
deliciously with its green grass surround.
The piece is really quite spatial: curving
forms jut forward and backward from the
principle plane. It is also playful. Do
you see the entire piece as the huge head
of a friendly monster, with an enormous
jaw and eye? Peter Snyder teaches at the
Penn State Berks Campus and organizes
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a major yearly outdoor sculpture exhibit.
Sculptures in front of the
Olmsted Building:
Alan Paulson, Oswego Run: This
grand, elegant piece consists of a series
of graceful steel archs that rise slowly
and rhythmically toward the center, then
slowly descend in the same rippling
pattern as they return to the earth. The
brash. bright red surface reflects the blue
sky on top, and serves as a brilliant
counterpoint to the color of the grass
that surrounds the work. A close
examination of the structure reveals great
ingenuity and subtllety of design.
Paulson, chairman of the Sculpture
Department at Gettysburg College,
boasts an extensive exhibition record.
Linda Cunningham, Lie Time s
. The
five snad-cast bronze forms seem to
grow like weathered tree trunks from the
ridge of ground on which they sit. The
trees have long since died, but their life
force still seems to reach up into the
sky. The title, from a contemporary
poem, is intended to refer to the present
"grave hour" in which humankind
threatens the environment. A sculptor
with an international reputation,
Cunningham exhibits regularly in
several New York galleries and heads the
Sculpture Department at Franklin and
Marshall College.
Herbert Simon (two sculptures),
Circle In/Circle Out and Negotiating
Curves (exhibited side-by-side): Cirple
In/Circle Out is a huge, horizontal
doughnut of steel with short cylinders
attached that either project inward,
echoing each other, or project outward,
opposing each other. Negotiating Curves
rises dramatically in a scorpion-like arch
that wonderfully compliments its lower
companion to the left. Simon's works
hark back to the traditions of
Constructivism (which emphasizes
materials and structure) • and to
Minimalism (which stresses simplicity
and clarity of form.) Simon is Professor
of Sculpture at Wilkes University.
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