Des Moines Register
02-21-07
Block by block, mural portrays ISU milieu
By MICHAEL MORAIN
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
There's a cow in a top corner of a new mural on Iowa State University's
central campus.
But not the whole beast, just the udder, dripping milk-drops marked with dollar
signs.
Mary Camp - a secretary at the Hixson-Lied Student Success Center, where
artists from the Des-Moines based Sticks studio installed the work last week isn't a big fan of the bovine portrait.
Lucky for her, the mural consists of 79 other 2-foot-square, wood-burned and
painted panels besides the one of ol' Bessie.
"I don't care for the cash cow, but the rooster is cool," Camp said.
The mural, aptly titled "We Shall Know Iowa State University by its Myriad Parts,"
is deliberately eclectic.
A team of more than 60 artists helped create the quilt-like panels, which are
based on research of the university's academic and athletic departments.
A Cyclone wrestler grapples with an opponent in one square.
In another, computer pioneer and professor John Atanasoff stares out from a
green grid of binary code.
And in another square are a half-dozen cherry pies topped with dollops of
whipped cream, an edible tradition from Iowa State's VEISHEA festival.
Sticks artists Ericca Davis and Jessica Stephens put on the finishing touches
Friday, painting over screws from their perch on a towering scaffold.
They said the entire process required a team effort at the studios, but Sticks
artists who had graduated from Iowa State played a key role.
The mural results from the Iowa Art in State Buildings legislation, which requires
0.5 percent of new construction or remodeling funds be used to acquire public
art.
Construction of the $10 million Hixson-Lied Center, which provides counseling
and tutoring services as well as space to study, was completed in December.
A dedication ceremony is planned for 1:30 p.m. Friday.
Dedication
WHAT: The new $10 million Hixson-Lied Student Success Center, which houses
a new 80-panel mural by Sticks art studio, will be officially dedicated.
WHEN: 1:30 p.m. Friday
WHERE: On Beach Road, just north of Lincoln Way, on the Iowa State campus
in Ames
INFO: (515) 294-9608 or (515) 294-0632
Reporter Michael Morain can be reached at (515) 286-2559 or
mmorain@dmreg.com