Gargoyles
Continued from Page 1
Streisinger’s wife, Lotte, was
the visual arts coordinator for the
1991 science complex project
and the Knight Library project
that was completed in 1995. She
was responsible for some of the
earlier art acquisitions.
Lotte said the gargoyles are the
work of Wayne Chabre, the artist
who constructed the figures ini
tially for the Natural History Mu
seum and later designed the
Trees of Knowledge on the south
side of the Knight Library.
“He poured an extra amount of
work into them,” Lotte said. "I
think there is a tradition of cop
per gargoyles. I’m not for sure —
it’s just a feeling."
There are two components to
the art program.
Integrative art is incorporated
into the architectural structure of
a building and includes tiling
and stained-glass windows.
“It’s best when they’re thought
of before the building actually
commences,” said John Rose, an
artist and an art selection com
mittee member for the William
W. Knight Law School. “The idea
of integrating is that you integrate
early rather than later.”
Removable art is pieces that
can be hung or placed after the
building is completed.
“It’s an aspect of the removable
collection — that a collection can
be ongoing,” Rose said. "So the
art doesn’t — boom — go in, and
that’s it.”
Jane Gordon, law school asso
ciate dean, said this year will be
the first year that the University
will try to set aside a "seed” fund
so that art can continue to be pur
chased and added to the collec
tion.
“I am really grateful and appre
ciative that we have the 1 percent
for art program,” Gordon said.
“It’s adding a more beautiful
building to the campus.”
Artists
Continued from Page 1
percent of a new building’s bud
get should be used for public art.
Art can either be integrated
into the structure of the building
or consist of freestanding pieces
such as statues or paintings.
“I’m a real advocate for art as
architecture,” Thompson said.
“The reason I do this public art
thing is I like to do nice work in
prominent places.”
Thompson has been manipu
lating metal for the past 28 years.
In the campus area, he designed
the metal work outside the Excel
sior Inn on 13th Avenue and an
internal panel of a man in a river
boat for Rennie’s Landing.
He said steel is his favorite
metal to work with.
“It’s forgiving,” he said. “It’s
cheap. Very available. There’s a
lot of industrial scrap.”
Thompson said he felt limited
by fabrication, the modern
method of metalsmithing, after
making ornamental iron such as
gates and fences for 10 years.
Now he combines modern
tools with the old-fashioned
practice of heating metal, bend
ing it and pummeling it with a
power hammer.
“If I were to revert back to the
ancient methods, I could get any
shape I wanted,” he said. “It’s
like total freedom with your ma
terial - like a clay artist. The pos
sibilities are really endless if you
want to train yourself in the an
cient methods."
Thompson’s original idea for
12-foot pillar-style lamps was
tossed out in favor of the box
lanterns from preliminary draw
ings by Yost Grube Hall Archi
tects. The firm felt they would fit
better beneath the concrete-cast
laurel leaf archway above the
main entrance.
“The bottom line is you're
working for the architect and the
client,” in this case, the Universi
ty, Thompson said. “Once
they’re drawn on paper, that’s it
— the fun’s over and it’s just
work from then on. It’s more fun
to forge and let the shape come
out. You’re not fighting the mate
rial you're working with, and it
always comes out better.”
Thompson said now that a
lamp design has been agreed
upon, it’s just more drilling and
screwing.
“1 have no interest in wood
working, like if you cut it too
short you have to throw it away,”
he said. “It’s not like metal where
you could weld some on or taper
it, bend it ... but it's cold and
dirty."
Alec Holser, the projector de
signer and a University graduate,
said the art adds life and interest
into a building.
“It’s really more artist-directed
than architect-directed,” Holser
said. “You’re going to like some
artwork and not going to like oth
ers, but that's the beauty of art.”
Anne Storrs, a Portland cast
concrete artist, said artists could
propose anything from creating
something new or making im
provements to an aspect of the
building already in the plans.
“I pulled something out and
said, ‘I can make this more inter
esting,'” she said.
Storrs’ moldwork can be seen
in the laurel-leaf pattern found
on the archway above the main
entrance.
Holser said the Oregon public
art program is well-run with the
help of the Oregon Arts Commis
sion.
“I think it’s a great program,”
Holser said. “It’s really a model
for other programs across the na
tion.”
Jane Gordon, law school asso
ciate dean, said the goal was to
avoid the starkness in form and
for the law building to be warm
and welcoming.
The artists “had a strong archi
tectural sense of the building be
fore they got involved,” Gordon
said.
“Oregon has a reputation for
being very good at giving out
commissions to all different
types of artists," said Peter Molli
ca, a stained glass artist from
Berkley, Calif. “The art can give a
little bit of detail that most mod
ern buildings don’t have.”
Mollica said sometimes art can
greatly improve structures.
"I think there should be art in
everything, like highway guard
rails,” Thompson said. “Little
bits of artsy things make life in
teresting. That’s what life’s all
about.”
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