New tables and chairs welcome visitors to study, eat lunch or gather with friends in the garden.
Abbe cleaned and assessed the museum’s other outdoor works, such as Andrew T. Crawford’s massive screw “Split” on East Campus Road and Beverly Pepper’s gravity-defying “Ascension” on the Performing and Visual Arts Complex quad. “The idea was that we wanted this garden to get back to its roots of being a rotating space,” says Rivers. “The best way to do that is to identify spaces where sculptures can go.” Part of the renovation process involved finding a balance that supports the garden’s multiple roles, reserving the first level for special events such as weddings and allocating the second and third levels for sculpture. Ruppert removed four large concrete pads originally poured to support the installation of various sculptures. In their absence, Rivers and his team have identified the three best zones for future works. When these zones are not occupied by sculpture, they will feature colorful seasonal flowers. The museum also purchased tables and chairs to encourage visitors to study, eat lunch or gather with friends. “We would love to have this be a place where people come and hang out,” says Rivers. “We’re trying to reimagine it to align with Director David Odo’s goals of increasing our student engagement and student involvement in all areas of the museum, and this area is one of them.” In August, the sculpture garden will return to its original vision of hosting temporary exhibitions with new works by Rachel Hayes, a textile artist based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, whose vibrant, large- scale installations aim to insert color and form into both built and natural environments. Informed by traditional fiber art processes and approaches to abstract painting, her body of work blurs the boundaries among craft, sculpture, architecture and land art. Subtly interacting with their surrounding landscapes, her installations rustle in the breeze and cast colorful, shifting shadows onto the ground.
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