Museums aren’t usually open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 356 days a year. But art is readily available day and night on the Wichita State University campus. Works by big names in the realm of art history, such as Louise Nevelson, Claes Oldenburg, Henry Moore and Auguste Rodin, are part of the world-class Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection.
Nearly 70 works adorn the WSU campus. The sculptures have been featured in dozens of publications and are the most visible part of the Ulrich Museum of Art, besides the museum building itself with a large, brightly colored Joan Miro mosaic at the entrance.
“WSU’s outdoor sculpture collection is one of the oldest and largest in the country,” says David Butler, director of the Ulrich Museum. “We were able to start the collection with the support of the Student Government Association and were able to purchase the earliest pieces back in the 1970s. Those early purchases ‘primed the pump’ and encouraged artists to donate sculpture and, with the help of donors, add to the collection. Our emphasis now is on conserving and caring for the collection as well as selectively adding new works by artists with national and international reputations.”
In August, an anonymous donor made a $525,000 gift to the wsu Foundation for the exclusive purposes of conserving and preserving the outdoor sculpture collection. Of this gift, $25,000 will be used this year, and the remainder will be placed in an endowment that will pay for most of the collection’s basic maintenance and care, Butler explains.
Because the sculpture collection is outdoors and always accessible to viewers, the artworks are dealt considerable stress from weather and, occasionally, from the viewers themselves. For example, Luis Jimenez’s fiberglass sculpture “Sodbuster,” depicting a farmer and his ox, is damaged as a direct result of people precariously perching themselves on the ox.
“Outdoor sculptures are intended to be placed outside, but because they are constantly subjected to whatever elements Mother Nature doles out, they require consistent tlc,” says Mark Janzen, collections manager at the Ulrich Museum and the primary monitor of the conditions of the sculptures. “Cleaning and other simple tasks are things that I can do to keep the outdoor sculpture collection in tip-top shape. But when it comes to corrosion removal, the application of chemicals and solvents, and the actual, physical repair of damaged or deteriorated pieces, those processes have to be done by trained professionals to ensure the longevity of the works.”
“We are so grateful that an anonymous patron made such a significant gift to ensure the outdoor sculptures’ continued care,” Butler says. “This new, endowed fund will help tremendously. There is a great deal of energy and effort involved in caring for nearly 70 sculptures spread over a 330-acre campus. The pieces are a tremendous asset to the students who study the sculptures — and to the community as a whole.”
— Teresa Veazey, Reprinted from Horizon
