599)'Tuesday • March 21, 1995
Aggielife
The Battalion • Page 3
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ampus history shown through statues
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sculptor begins with a lump of clay and
creates the features and expressions of an
idea. As the clay is shaped, this idea be-
omes the history with which we honor great men,
radition and art.
Texas A&M displays its history and ideals in the
culptures found scattered around campus.
1 tb -
late Memos
Menos, commissioned in 1992, was designed by
Ians Van deBovenkamp and stands behind the Hal-
outy Geosciences Building.
The title “Menos” is the Greek word for spirit.
I Van deBovenkamp said in the same tradition of
| .the Greeks’ search for knowledge and meaning, the
i||culpture stands to remind and inspire people of
: 'their own personal pursuits.
I Popularly known as the “Aggie Paperclip,” the 25-
foot stainless steel sculpture has two basic elements:
the ring and the wave.
Van deBovenkamp said, “The ring, or circle, em
bodies stability or centering, while the wave pro
vides a sense of endlessness, motion and flux.”
Van deBovenkamp said the two elements are
complimentary op
posites.
“As the waves
reach skyward,
they lift, pointing to
something beyond,”
Van deBovenkamp
said. “The sculpture
symbolizes and
stimulates the
quest for a higher
knowledge and
state of being — the
spirit of learning.”
The 7,000-pound
sculpture is the
only A&M sculp
ture that was com
missioned by the
University through
an open sculpture
contest.
Artists sent in
their designs, and
the winner was
chosen by the Pres
ident’s Advisory
Committee.
e statue of Robert Justus
Kleberg Jr. in front of the Kle-
erg Animal & Food Sciences
enter on West Campus.
ARCH 406 stands near the Architecture Center.
ROUGHNECK
Many of the sculptures on campus are commemo
rative, like that of the bronze Roughneck in front of
the Richardson Petroleum Engineering Building.
The Roughneck features the figure of a 7-foot, 3-
inch male oil field worker throwing the chain of an
oil drilling pipe over a tri-cone rotary drilling bit.
This sculpture, by artist Rosie Sandifer, was in
stalled in 1991 to honor Joe C. Richardson.
The statue stands more than 20 feet tall includ
ing the marble base and the drilling pipe.
Sandifer said she visited an oil field site in Level-
land, Texas, “to get a good look at the men working
there” before creating the piece.
Robert Justus Kleberg, Jr.
Another rugged male sculpture is in front of
the Kleberg Animal & Food Sciences Center on
West Campus.
The sculpture is of Robert Justus Kleberg, Jr.
as he sits on his favorite horse with his hands
crossed upon the saddle horn to survey the land
surrounding him.
Kleberg, former head of the vast King Ranch,
is honored for his donations of time and funds to
Texas A&M.
Helen Groves, Kleberg’s daughter, commissioned
artist Jim Reno to capture Kleberg’s likeness in
bronze in 1983.
ARCH 406
Another commemorative statue was given to the
University in October 1993.
Tucked in between Scoates Hall and the Langford
Architecture Center, the ARCH 406 statue is really
two statues in one.
Artist Lawrence Ludtke sculpted a boy with a
backpack thrown over his shoulder — complete with
a T-square and rolled blueprints — strolling to class.
Veryl Goodnight created the companion piece,
a golden retriever, that trots obediently at his
master’s side.
The artists devoted much of their time to detail,
from the dog’s lolling tongue right down to the Aggie
ring on the boy’s left hand and the pen in his pocket.
ARCH 406 was given to Texas A&M by Betty and
Joe Hiram Moore in memory of their son Stephen.
Stephen Moore was a Texas A&M graduate in
1973.
The dog, his parents say, is modeled after one of
the two golden retrievers that Stephen always kept
with him.
The Moores said the title of the statue is a senior
design class, the last in a sequence in the under
graduate curriculum.
Victory Eagle
One of the most recent works of outdoor art
placed on campus is the Victory Eagle in Cain Park.
Wildlife sculptor Kent Ullburg designed the nine-
foot bronze eagle with a wingspan of 14 feet.
The eagle perches on a man-made waterfall by
Cain Hall.
Landscaping and park benches completed this
$300,000 gift from the Class of 1991, but the project
was not dedicated until September 1993.
Eleanor Manson, president of the class of 1991,
said the eagle represents the qualities that Texas
A&M instills in its graduates — strength, courage
and achievement.
CENTENNIAL EAGLE
A second bronze eagle, given to the University by
the class of 1976, is the University Centennial Eagle
in Spence Park.
The Centennial Eagle was designed by artist
George “Pat” Foley, who has done a number of
works for Texas A&M.
Dedicated to the school on its 100th anniversary,
the sculpture’s design was used as the official logo
for the University’s centennial celebration.
Planned for the Future
One sculpture also dedicated in 1976 has seem
ingly disappeared.
Planned for the Future, a bronze sculpture of a
nude man and woman, stood in front of the MSC un
til the MSC was expanded in 1991.
The sculpture was removed and placed in storage
but its whereabouts are unknown.
Stew Milne / The Battalion — All Other Photos by Amy Browning / The BATTALidN
Menos or “The Paperclip” is a stainless steel sculpture located in the engineering complex.
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The Centennial Statue is in front of the Sander’s Corps of Cadets Center.
Catherine Hastedt, registrar and curator of Uni
versity Center Galleries, says she thinks the statue
is in a Physical Plant warehouse.
This 10-foot sculpture was also created by Pat Fo
ley and was meant to portray the coming of women
to Texas A&M.
General James Earl Rudder
General James Earl Rudder was the Texas
A&M president who brought about the admit
tance of women to the University.
A statue of Rudder is the newest of the statues
on campus, situated behind the Rudder complex.
Rudder was president of Texas A&M from
1959 until 1973.
Margaret Rudder said the clay used by Larry
Ludtke to sculpt the statue of her husband was
the same type of clay used more than 75 years
ago by Pompeo Coppini to make the statue of
Lawrence Sullivan Ross.
1 2th ivian
Perhaps one of the most well-known stories on
campus is of E. King Gill, the original 12th Man.
The 12th Man statue, also created by Foley,
was given to the University almost 15 years ago
by the class of 1980.
The bronze figure depicts E. King Gill, an ath
lete who played various sports.
On January 22, 1922, during a post-season
game, Gill was called down from the stands to
help out the depleted Aggie team which was
slowly defeating the national champion. Centre
College.
Although Gill never played in the
game. Aggies have always stood at
football games in memory of his dedi
cation to A&M.
Judy Whitney, of the 12th Man
foundation, said a recognition wall
will be built around the statue in
front of Kyle Field in the spring to
establish an endowment fund for
athletics.
Lawrence
Sullivan Ross
Another familiar face cast in
bronze is Lawrence Sullivan Ross.
Ross served as Texas governor
from 1886 to 1890, then accepted the
presidency of Texas A&M in 1891.
Matt Segrest, Corps Commander
and Ross Volunteer member, said the
Volunteers try to model themselves
after Ross.
“Ross Volunteers are the top-
notch cadets, the best group of
cadets — and the best people you’ll
ever meet,” said Segrest. “They are
people who are motivated and want
more out of life.”
Segrest said it is a tradition for
freshmen members of the Corps to
polish the Ross statue at least once
a year.
Hastedt said this annual cleaning
of the statues can actually damage
them.
“I am against the annual cleaning
of Sul Ross,” she said. “They’re
scrubbing him down to nothing.”
Segrest said he thinks it is important for the
freshmen to give the traditional polishing.
“It depends on what your priorities are,” Seg
rest said. “Which is more important — the art or
the tradition?”
Hastedt said the maintenance of the statues
on campus is an upcoming issue for the FVesiden-
t’s Advisory Committee.
Dr. Walter Wendler, dean of architecture and
chairman of the President’s Art Policy Commit
tee, said the student initiative to clean the sculp
tures is admirable, but the polishing removes the
patina on the bronze pieces.
The patina is an important layer that protects
the color and nature of the bronze.
“Eventually, that thing is going to be smooth,”
Wendler said. “It’s like an Aggie ring. Have you
ever seen a Class of ’38 ring? It’s features are
hardly identifiable.”
Wendler said the new Rudder sculpture has al
ready been damaged by a recent “cleaning.”
“We are trying to do what is best for the long
run,” Wendler said. “I think it’s great the stu
dents have the desire to help clean the statues,
but everybody needs to understand that it may
have a negative effect.”
Wendler said there is currently a proposal to
develop a maintenance routine recommended by
each individual artist.
Wendler said, “Kent Ullburg told us to wax his
sculpture, the Victory Eagle, once a year with
plain old car wax.”
Roughneck is located in front of the Richardson Petroleum En
gineering Building.