Extension Communications 3614 Administrative Services Building Ames, Iowa 50011-3614 (515) 294-9915

9/5/03

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Lynette Pohlman, University Museums, (515) 294-3342, lpohlma@iastate.edu
Jean McGuire, Continuing Education and Communication Services, (515) 294-7033, jmcguire@iastate.edu

Joy: A Father's Pride, America's Vision

Lynette L. Pohlman
Director and Chief Curator
University Museums

Celebrating sheer youthful joy, a father's hands sculpted the children's fountain at Reiman Gardens. These were the hands of Christian Petersen, father to Mary, Helene, Ruth and Lawrence; husband to Charlotte and Emma; and, teacher, sculptor and artist-in-residence.

How could something
so big and strong
make something
so fine and tender?
With a simple twist of a wrist
the tip of his thumb
opened a young girl's eyes,
brought life to dead limbs,
put music in the air
around the hem
of a prancing dancer.

Excerpt from the poem "his hands" by Michael Carey, commissioned by the University Museums, 1999, as part of the Art on Campus Poetry Collection.

During his lifetime, Christian Petersen was a familiar figure on the Iowa State University (ISU) campus. In subsequent years, his campus artistic reputation has not diminished and recognition of his contributions to American art history is growing. Petersen's sculpture spanned a generation of American art, from turn-of-the-twentieth-century Beaux Arts romanticism to mid-century regionalism. Like most artists, he mirrored the times in which he lived, sharing the ideals and uncertainties of his contemporaries. Throughout the turbulent war years that marked his life, including World Wars I and II, and the Korean War, he searched for other values to define his and America's experiences and dreams. He often turned to family and ISU to inspire his sculptures.

Having already created sculptures for the university such as the "Veterinary Medicine Mural" with "The Gentle Doctor," Petersen sculpted a children's fountain base destined for the city's Brookside Park in 1938. The 30-inch diameter, drinking fountain was for the children and families playing in the park. On the fountain base, images of frolicking children, from toddlers to youth are frozen in time as they play games of tennis, catch, tag, ring-around-the-rosie and dance with joyous abandon. A vision of life reflected as pure, untroubled and exuberant. The father of four children, Petersen's youngest child, Mary, was born in 1936, and was the smallest child portrayed on the fountain as an 18-month old toddler. At age five, Mary was also the unsuspecting model for the young girl sculpted for the "Marriage Ring" fountain located south of MacKay Hall.

For unknown reasons, probably economic, the fountain was never cast in bronze as originally intended, and not placed in the park. Instead the fountain's plaster mold languished in storage for fifty years. In 1988 through the leadership of Beverly Madden, the Home Economics Development Fund and the University Museums, the model and copyrights to reproduce the fountain were acquired from Mary Petersen. In 1999 with funds made available from the Iowa Art in State Buildings Programs for Reiman Gardens and the Palmer Building, two bronze castings were finally commissioned. J.A.M. Studios in Blaine, Minnesota, cast two bronze fountains. The fountains were installed in Reiman Gardens and south of MacKay Hall in 2001.

As he often did not provide titles for his sculptures, Petersen never titled the children's fountain. Its title was given to the bronze castings in 1999 by the University Museums curatorial staff.

Christian Petersen wanted nothing so much as to create and bring his art to the campus and community of Ames. He arrived at Iowa State to create his art, and in the process, unwittingly also established a campus artistic legacy. Unaware of the fact, Petersen was the nation's, first, permanent artist-in-residence at any campus. During his tenure, 1933-1955, he created twelve, major public works of art for Iowa State. Today the Art on Campus Collection numbers over 450 major public works of art created by over 90 significant Iowa, national and international artists. It is the nation's largest, campus public art collection. In 2006 the new Christian Petersen Art Museum at Morrill Hall will open and focus on contemporary issues, just as Petersen did in his day; the new museum will be home to the permanent Art on Campus Collection, which Petersen helped found; and, teach visual learning to students and faculty in all colleges and departments, just as Petersen did in his studio and classrooms. His legacy lives on and is growing.

As a teacher and artist, it was Petersen's firm belief that art images and experiences, firmly planted in the minds and hearts of many people, even people who may or may not have thought art could play any role in their lives, was imperative. Not only can art provide a more acute sense of our own time, it can open up new vistas and connections that will matter to us in unforeseen and meaningful ways. Art is about paying attention. Perhaps, in some way, it can alert those who are paying attention, as well as those who aren't, to the mantra: "Broaden your horizons." Sculpted in 1938 as the world slipped toward the brink of war, today we should pay attention to the children innocently dancing and playing on the "Joy" fountain at Reiman Gardens, and envision their futures in the world we create for them.

The University Museums consist of the Brunnier Art Museum, the Farm House Museum, the Art on Campus Program and the proposed Christian Petersen Art Museum at Morrill Hall.

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Editors: A color photo, suitable for publication, is available at right. Click on the thumbnail photo to go to the fullsized photo. The picture's fullsize photo is 336K. Caption: Friends sculpture

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