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New Horizons reached with visiting installation art at Governors State University
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View across lagoon to Horizons, photo by J. Kronika
With the first temporary art exhibit, featuring Steinnun Thorensdottir’s, (pronounced Stay-nun Thoren’s daughter) original work Horizons, the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park brings new dynamism to the campus. The Sculpture Park covering over one hundred acres of prairie landscape, features a collection of cutting edge contemporary sculpture, the only such location in the metropolitan area. Steinnun’s work in cast iron and polished glass ranges across the hillside across the lagoon from the campus’s D-wing exit, immediately outside the Hall of Governors.
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The work of this prolific and distinguished Icelandic artist portrays the human condition through figurative forms activating the prairie landscape. On its third stop in the United States, Horizons arrived in July and will remain on the Governors State University campus until September 2010. Previous stops for the twelve life-sized sculptures include the San Antonio Botanical Garden, in cooperation with the Blue Star Arts Center in Texas, the Katonah Arts Center in New York and the Dixon Botanical Gardens in Memphis. Tour manager, Bill Fitzgibbons is the American contact for arranging visits of the dynamic sculptural installation and a personal friend of the artist.
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Steinnun Thorensdottir is featured in a YouTube short www.youtube.com/watch , in which a number of her exhibitions and installations are pictured. The artist describes her inspiration as coming from the Icelandic landscape, interactions with the natural vastness, purity and her visual awareness of space and natural materials such as water, stone and earth. She is inspired to portray the human condition in all of its complexity. In a thirty minute documentary by Frank Cantor, released in January 2009, available from CANTOMEDIA, cantomedia.com explores the process of her work, which involves plaster casting her son, shaping the resulting plaster, and iron or aluminum casts of the resulting forms. Viewers get an inside look at her home studio and the installation of several works including commissions. One of these: two pieces incorporating cast aluminum and found rock, designed to represent the unifying power of trade post the Cod Wars in the 1970s between Britain and Iceland. In works individually commissioned by the English government in Britain and the Icelandic government in Iceland, this work comes together as a suggested connection. These two figures gaze out across the sea which connects this trade, commemorating the peace which has been established. Thorensdottir’s Directions, a series of four stone pedestals with mounted standing aluminum figures around a circular plaque, face the four directions at Reykjavik Airport, and invite viewers to interact with them when coming to or leaving Iceland by air.
During the International Sculpture Center Conference in Grand Rapids Michigan sculpture.org last October, Mr. Bates had the opportunity to meet Steinnun and view some of her work. Based on the work he saw there and the fact that Horizons was currently touring the United States, Mr. Bates began making inquiries to bring the installation to Governors State University, asking the artist and presenting her work to the Park’s board. Geoff describes the figurative work in this installation as “a dynamic counter-point to the existing collection which is noted for many examples of geometric and minimalist style.”
Speaking with Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park director and curator, Geoff Bates, on Wednesday, revealed the range of involvement and drive for excellence that embodies the Park’s board and staff directives and new developments. Investing the campus with a rich visual display of nearly thirty works, the Sculpture Park is just one more way the University acts as a cultural enrichment to the community. The new program, Temporary Exhibitions, of which Thorensdottir’s work is the first, creates another reason to visit the Park, adding vitality and a range of contemporary types and approaches to sculpture to the visitor friendly path. The next artist, to be selected, is tentatively scheduled to be installed in June 2010.
The program surrounding the Horizons installation, coordinated by Mr. Bates, will continue with a series of events that promote collaboration with local art organizations, dialogue with art and artists, and involve the local community in enriching experiences within the Park. This Friday, August 07, 2009, reserved guests will attend a program presented by the Tall Grass Arts Association and the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park, called “With These Hands & Horizons” featuring the work of the current exhibit at Tall Grass, With These Hands, and Thorensdottir’s Horizons at the Sculpture Park. On August 16th, from 4:30pm to 7:30pm the Sculpture Park will present a Music Commentary which is free and open to the public at Bruce Nauman’s A House Divided.
The next event for sculpture aficionados and artists will be the Autumn Art Odyssey, September 12-13th, 2009 is a trip to Grand Rapids and the Fredrick Meijer Sculpture Gardens. The deadline for registration is August 1, 2009. “Join our intrepid band of arts enthusiasts as we embark on an autumn odyssey bus tour to Grand Rapids, Michigan, home of the Fredrick Meijer Sculpture Gardens and Alexander Calder’s la Grand Vitesse.” www.govst.edu/sculpture/default.aspx
Steinnun Thorensdottir will be present for a student meeting and critique on October 13th, followed by a public recognition dinner, from 6:00pm to 8:30pm, and will give a talk about her work, followed by a second reception on October 14th. For more information see the Sculpture Park website, www.govst.edu/sculpture tickets are available for public events, please call 708-534-4486 or email: sculpture@govst.edu to reserve. Funding for this program and the visiting art was provided by the Distinguished Lecturer series of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Liberal Arts, and the support of the Members of the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park.
The Sculpture Park will be the site for a Family Spooktacular after party, in collaboration with the Center for Performing Arts event featuring Dave Rudolf’s Halloween Spooktacular on the 31st. www.daverudolf.com/
The attached slide show features works from the Park’s North Trail, representing about half of the works on the campus. Please watch for a further article focusing on the South Trail, due to publish after campus construction is complete in mid to late August.
1. Falling Meteor, by Jerry Peart, painted Aluminum, 1975
2. Oscar’s Inclination, by Michael Dunbar, painted Steel, 2003
3. Illinois Landscape No. 5, by John Henry, painted Steel, 1976
4. Yes! For Lady Day, Mark di Suvero, Steel I-beams, railroad tank car, galvanized cables, 1968-69
5. Phoenix, by Edvins Strautmanis, Steel I-beams, 1933-1992
6. Flying Saucer, by Jene Highstein, Metal-reinforced and painted concrete, 1977
7. Frame, by Richard Rezac, Glazed brick with steel and concrete reinforcement, sculpted glazed ceramic ovals, 2005
8. Paul, by Tony Tassert, steel reinforced fiberglass, painted, 2006
9. Sisyphus Aviary, by Dan Yarbrough, painted steel rod, boulders, 1984
10. Spiral, Clement meadmore, Cor-ten Steel, 1971
The Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park features nearly thirty permanent or visiting outdoor sculptural and installation works on an over one hundred acre prairie wildlife reserve. The collection, established in 1960 by Lewis Manilow has become a model for sculpture parks integrated within a university campus and stands alone as the only one of its kind in the metropolitan area.
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