Many students walk across the Cal State Long Beach campus daily without realizing that the walkways are scattered with 21 University Art Museum curated sculptures and contributions from four graduate students.
According to the University Art Museum (UAM), eight world-renowned artists placed artwork at CSULB as part of the California International Sculpture Symposium in the summer of 1965. The symposium was an organized gathering for the creation of monumental sculptures.
Some of the sculptors who were part of the symposium died in recent years, such as sculptor Piotr Kowalski, who died in 2004 and created “Now,” the stainless steel sculpture near the University Student Union.
Internationally known artist Claire Falkenstein made “‘U’ as a Set,” the structure outside the McIntosh Humanities building, out of 6,000 pieces of copper tubing. She died in 1997.
Of the 21 pieces, nine were added in 1965. Thirteen pieces were added in the three decades following. Then-CSULB President Steve Horn designated the UAM to take care of the collection.
Maren Hassinger was one of the sculptors who contributed in the ’90s. Her wire rope and concrete sculpture, “Evening Shadows,” was moved to CSULB in 1993.
“I reconfigured the piece to respond to the given location outside the museum,” Hassinger said via email. “Iwanted the industrial wire rope to blend with the shadow of the jacaranda tree cast on the museum’s exterior wall … because of the poignancy of their union.”
Hassinger said she hasn’t visited the piece since its installation.
“I do look at the photo of the installation shot as the sun sets,” she said. “It’s an appealing photo.”
Woods Davy’s “Heaven’s Gate,” a sculpture uniquely made out of steel and rock, stands near the College of Business Administration building. According to the UAM, the piece offers an “aperture to an unknown place” as it “caresses the earth and stretches for the heavens.”
The first sculpture to be placed outside on campus was made in 1964.
The wall sculpture, “Hollow Men,” hangs on Lecture Hall 151 and was created by Penhold Peterson, who was a CSULB graduate student at the time.
According to Chris Alegria, an education assistant at the UAM, the sculpture is supposed to be a combination of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the crucifixion and Icarus.
Another student contributed a work in 1977. James Russell’s “Voyagers,” a stainless steel sculpture near the library and Fine Arts 3 building, was created as part of his master’s of fine art degree.
In an email, Russell said attending college is a vicarious voyage in life and wanted to convey that in his work.
As for adding more to the collection, Alegria said it’s not likely.
“At least, not at this point,” Alegria said. “The museum, the Carpenter Center and the Pyramid are part of a common walkway, and we want to unite them.”