Campus Spaces Reveal an Array of Art and Collections

July 8, 2016
David Wynne's bronze sculpture, "Girl With Doves," is near the entrance to the Main Library.
Located at the ENR2 building are metal inlays of Gila monsters, desert tortoises, hummingbirds, bobcats, vermilion flycatchers and pupfish.
"Standing Woman With Hands on Her Face " by Francisco Zúñiga, who was an internationally acclaimed sculptor and printmaker, is in front of the UA Museum of Art and the School of Art. The sculpture depicts an indigenous woman from Central America.
The bronze "Lesson of a Disaster" by internationally known Cubist sculptor Jacques Lipchitz is in the UA Museum of Art courtyard.
Susan Gamble's "Uaspire #1" is just south of the Student Union Memorial Center.
"The Wildcat Family," featuring two adult wildcats and two cubs, was dedicated in 2004 to past UA President Peter Likins and his wife, Pat. The sculpture is at the Alumni Plaza.
The Poetry Center offers exhibitions of art and library selections, which are mounted throughout the year. The center also hosts work by Tucson artists as well as traveling exhibits. One of its permanent exhibitions is the "Wall of Poets" highlighting tho
"Hamlet," a silicon bronze sculpture by William Arms, is near the Marroney Theatre, where the Arizona Repertory Theater will present William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" during its 2016-2017 season.
Within Old Main's famed cruciform hallway are displays of artwork and artifacts provided by the Arizona State Museum, the UA Museum of Art, the Center for Creative Photography, the Mineral Museum and UA Special Collections.
Along the walls in Old Main's Silver and Sage Room are yearbooks from previous years.
Scott M. Wallace's "Cornucopia" hangs in the lobby of the Student Recreation Center.
"Courage," by Gary Slater, is at the Arizona Cancer Center.
"Front Row Center" is a mixed-media installation by Barbara Grygutis in front of the Marroney Theatre.
Barbara Grygutis, a nationally recognized public artist, collaborated with landscape architects to create artwork in front of the Marroney Theatre.
Scott M. Wallace's "State Fear" is at the Arizona Cancer Center, in its interior atrium.
"Armillary Sphere," by Dennis Jones, sits in front of the Steward Observatory, which will host a fall Public Evening Lecture Series with events set to explore extrasolar planets, binary stars, Jupiter and film representations of the universe.
The Worlds of Words Art Studio, in the Education Building, rotates displays of original art from picture books centered on a theme.
The work of David Christiana appears throughout Worlds of Words: a large donor mural, shelf signs and wall wraps including a tractor illustration. Christiana has illustrated more than 20 picture books and currently teaches Illustration at the UA.
Worlds of Words honors the legacy of the late Richard Ruiz of the UA Department of Mexican American Studies with a display wall featuring "Celebration of Literacy" by Rafael López, and original art from the picture book "Separate Is Never Equal" by Duncan
George Greenamyer's "25 Scientists" is a steel sculpture in front of the Henry Koffler Building that reflects the work of the building's inhabitants.

Inside and out, the University of Arizona maintains an active and growing collection of artwork.

In addition to numerous buildings on main campus having artistic appeal — think the Thomas W. Keating Bioresearch Building with its 90-foot-tall metal ramada, Stevie Eller Dance Theater's evocation of movement, the Helen S. Schaefer Building's striking lines, and the Environment and Natural Resources 2 building's growing patina — the place is full of spaces dedicated to artwork.

And in addition to the UA Museum of Art, Joseph Gross Gallery, the Union Gallery, the Arizona State Museum and the famed Center for Creative Photography, such artwork is housed within lobbies, corridors, boardrooms and other less-obvious corners of campus.

That includes the College of Humanities' collection of paintings by Frances O’Brien, an artist and illustrator who was a friend of Georgia O’Keeffe, located on the second floor of the Modern Languages Building.

The UA's College of Education Worlds of Words has nearly 100 pieces of original art in the collection, about half of which are on public display in the studio, main space and Mary J. Wong/Grace Lin collections.

On the second floor of McClelland Hall, home to the Eller College of Management, is a large-scale mosaic — Charles Clement's "The Five Cs of Arizona's Economy" — highlighting Arizona's cotton, copper, cattle, citrus and climate. The piece is more than 6 feet tall and more than 10 feet wide.

Set into the concrete floor at the UA's ENR2 building are metal inlays of desert animals, which are available for "adoption" online.

The lobby of the Sonett Space Sciences Building, home of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, holds an exhibition of several NASA-supported Mars missions in which the UA has been involved. And just off campus in a space at 1415 N. Sixth Ave., LPL also maintains an exhibition area dedicated to the Phoenix Mars Mission.

Here are some of the obvious and not-so-obvious parts of campus that serve as repositories and host sites for art.

Share