Detail from Christian Petersen's History of Dairying mural, completed in 1934 and installed in the Food Sciences Building courtyard. Image courtesy of university museums.
Two exhibitions about Iowa State's first artist-in-residence, Christian Petersen, will open with free admission on Tuesday, Jan. 16, at the Christian Petersen Art Museum in Morrill Hall. Both are guest curated by Ames native and alumnus Jerome Thompson (anthropology, '74), who retired in 2015 as state curator for the State Historical Society of Iowa.
Each focuses on a different aspect of Petersen's career. From 1934 to 1955, during his residency, Petersen completed 12 major campus public works of art that represent the history and culture of the Midwest and became the core of the Art on Campus collection.
In the Campbell gallery
Christian Petersen: A Sense of Place in Campus Life highlights many of the site-specific sculptures Petersen created for Iowa State's campus. Sketches, models and concept drawings will be on view to figuratively bring the sculptures to the Campbell Gallery, 1017 Morrill. Campus maps with marked locations of these sculptures will be provided for visitors to explore the sculptures at their campus locations. The exhibition runs through July 26.
"In 2007, I wrote about my experiences with encountering Petersen's works of art around campus as a 'faculty kid' growing up in the 1950s and 1960s," Thompson said. "The array of his sculpture around campus gives a special sense of place to me that I have not found on any other campuses I have visited. I suspect others who have experienced the Iowa State campus as a student, alumni, or community resident may have a similar view."
In the Reiman Gallery
The Fountain of the Four Seasons currently is undergoing conservation and replication. It consists of a fountain, pool, terra cotta ring around the fountainhead and four limestone sculptures known as the maidens. The project addresses issues of wear from the 80-plus years the maidens spent outdoors. The sculpture is being recarved, and the fountain and pool have been rebuilt and are being enhanced with eco-friendly updates and lighting upgrades. It's anticipated that this campus icon will be functional by fall semester. University museums staff provide updates about this project online.
The second exhibition, Sculpting an Icon: Christian Petersen and the Fountain of the Four Seasons, will be in the Reiman Gallery, 0003 Morrill, through Dec. 20. Thompson offers his perspective of the people and events that may have influenced the design of the iconic Fountain of the Four Seasons. The pool structure was dedicated in 1937 as a gift from the Veishea Committee, and the sculpted Fountain of the Four Seasons was unveiled at a 1941 Veishea celebration. The final sculpture designs took shape in the fall of 1940 at the National Corn Husking Contest held in Davenport, where the sculptures were part of an exhibition prepared by Iowa State showing the origins, colonization, commercialization, open pollinations and hybridization of corn.
Related events
During an exhibition tour Jan. 25 (5-6 p.m., Campell Gallery), Art on Campus curator Sydney Marshall will highlight objects within the two exhibitions and explain how Petersen's works of art transformed the visual legacy of campus.
Thompson will give a curator's talk about the exhibitions on Sunday, Feb. 4 (2:30 p.m. Christian Petersen Art Museum). A reception from 2 to 4 p.m. wraps around his talk. Like all University Museums programs, these events are free and open to the public.
The Christian Petersen Art Museum is open to the public weekdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
