FEATURE
Tommasini and Pickett represent early student fascination with campus art and were lucky enough to witness and participate in the creation of the Dyche Hall grotesques. But KU's history of "public art" really began in 1904 when Simeon Bell, a physician, donated "The Pioneer," then known as "The Corn Planter," to the University. "The Pioneer" was the first ground sculpture on KU's campus. However, the University stored the statue in Dyche Hall for 12 years before it was finally placed in front of Spooner Hall in 1916. Since its first public display, it has had several location changes, including the space that Chi Omega Fountain now occupies.
"The Pioneer," now located south of Fraser Hall on the main campus of KU, is roughly a life-size depiction of a man leaning on a shovel, planting corn seeds. There are two ears of corn at his feet. The concrete base was a gift from the class of 1920. It was during that year the name of the statue was changed to "The Pioneer" to better suit the idea of Kansas's early settlers and America's westward expansion.
"The Pioneer' deals with our history," Elizabeth Kowalchuk, associate dean for the school of the arts and a member of the Art
and Campus Committee, says. "Because the Oregon trail might have passed near the site, renaming the statue, right or wrong, was probably an attempt to make the sculpture fit with early campus ideals."
A different time: "The Pioneer," now standing on the south side of Fraser Hall, was a gift from the class of 1920. It has had many homes on the KU campus, including where the Chi Omega fountain stands today.
Bell once said that "The Pioneer" represents the difficulties and determination of the early settlers of Kansas. Bell hoped that "succeeding generations might understand the difficulties and handicaps early Kansans encountered." However, the mythology of "The Pioneer" has changed over time. By the 1960s, Bell's idea was replaced by amused college students who said that "The Pioneer" shoveled dirt whenever a virgin walked by.
"The Pioneer" held the honor of being the subject of many student paintings until the statue of "Uncle Jimmy" Green was erected.
On a spring day in 1967, Frank Kirk, a third-year law student, eagerly walked to his last class in old Green Hall, now Lippincott Hall. He made the familiar trek down Jayhawk Blvd., the same route he had taken daily over the last three years. He was known to have never missed a day of class while attending KU. According to a 1974 Lawrence Journal World article, several of his classmates handcuffed him to the leg of the "Uncle Jimmy" Green
statue in an attempt to break his attendance record. However, James K. Logan, the dean of the law school, heard of Kirk's predicament and moved class outside, saving Kirk's perfect record.
The statue of James Wood Green mentoring a student may be the most popular and beloved statue on campus, Kowalchuk says. Green, lovingly referred to by his students as "Uncle Jimmy," was the dean of the School of Law from 1879 until his death in 1919.
The statue, carved by renowned sculptor Daniel Chester French, who also carved Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., depicts "Uncle Jimmy" with his arm around a student. It continues to represent the idea of mentor and student and the passing of knowledge from one generation to the next. Chester French, a widely sought after sculptor, initially declined to carve the statue but was convinced to visit Lawrence by alumni who wrote him relentlessly. Legend has it that he decided to accept the task because he had "never known a person except Abraham Lincoln who was beloved by the people that knew him."
The statue was erected in 1924 with funds raised by the KU students and faculty who held a World War I memorial drive, known as the Million Dollar drive, which also raised funds for the first union and football stadium.
The unknown student in the sculpture has been the subject of much debate over the past century. Many people claim the student is Alfred C. Alford, though there is no clear indication that this is true. Whether true or not, Alford is historically important to KU. He graduated with a law degree in 1897. He was the first KU student killed while fighting in the Philippines during the Spanish-American war. His mother, Susan, was one of 26 women to attend KU on the first day of classes in 1866. The "Rock Chalk" chant was created on his grandfather's farm, where students and faculty often spent leisure time.
Much like the experience of James Kirk, "Uncle Jimmy" has also been the subject of many pranks and the center of the rivalry between the law and engineering schools. The rivalry was usually centered on football game days and St. Patrick's Day, when the engineering school painted "Uncle Jimmy" green.
Controversy erupted in 1974 when the law school relocated across campus and tried to move "Uncle Jimmy" with it. After student protests, it was decided that the man who
started the KU law school in 1878 would remain on Jayhawk Blvd.
A recent example of a student interacting with campus art happened during winter 2009, when former student Matthew Farley, the artist who created the "Frozen Assets" installation in the Chi Omega Fountain in 2008, visited "Salina Piece" on campus west. Realizing the 35-foot tall abstract steel structure resembled a waffle iron, Farley set to work making a snow waffle underneath its 90 degree angled waffle-like grid.
"This was a creative response to public art," Susan Earle, curator of European and American Art for the Spencer Museum of Art, says. "It was an irreverent take on a forbidding work of art."
"Salina Piece" started controversy when its pieces were first spread out near a residential area south of campus. Originally it was supposed to be located on the triangular piece of land at 16th and Indiana St., but many people were outraged at the thought of having the enormous structure within view of their homes. "Public art will offend, that's the sensitive issue," Jeff Weinberg, assistant to the Chancellor and member of the Art and Campus Committee, says.
The outrage began before the work was ever put together. According to a 1981 University Daily Kansan article, "Salina Piece" remained in pieces for nearly six months and was the target for vandals who spray-painted, "Ugly Junk," and "First Place Bad Taste" on the sculpture. There was also a failed attempt at raising the sculpture but it fell to the ground further convincing neighbors that it was a safety hazard as well as an eye sore.
After KU alumni threatened to begin an advertising campaign opposing the work, the University decided to move the sculpture to its new location on campus west near Youngsberg Hall and the KU endowment center, a spot that Weinberg says is spectacular. It has safely remained in that spot since 1984.
Though only five works were mentioned in this article, there are hidden gems all across campus that are worth exploring and taking the time to notice. Thinking about these works and why they are present on the campus is important to understanding where KU has been and where it is headed. JP
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Chelsea Freeman, a freshman from Wichita, helps children from the Boys and Girls Club create handmade ornaments during the Mentors in the Lives of Kids' (M.I.L.K.) annual holiday party in the ballroom of the Kansas Union. M.I.L.K. formed a new group, Girls Club, that promotes social and financial independence for fifth- and sixth-grade girls. The curriculum is designed to empower young girls and teach them that a man isn't necessary for a successful life. The group begins its lessons in January. M.I.L.K. is run by two coordinators, senior Laura Davis and sophomore Carlye Yanker.
BY SAMANTHA COLLINS
scollins@kansan.com
The 10-week curriculum addresses issues like stereotypes and how the girls view themselves, how women are viewed in advertisements, spending, credit cards, sales tax, budgeting and savings. The program will start next semester in January.
Carlye Yanker, a sophomore from St. Louis and co-coordinator of M.I.L.K., said she thought it would be easier to work with all
A group of University of Kansas students thinks that elementary school girls can benefit from a more practical kind of education, specifically geared toward young females.
If you want to get involved with the Mentors in the Lives of Kids, e-mail: milk@ku.edu.
The on-campus student group Mentors in the Lives of Kids, or M.I.L.K., created a new program, the Girls Club, this year to teach life skills and promote economic self-sufficiency for fifth- and sixth-grade girls. M.I.L.K. is run through the Center for Community Outreach. The Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence provides affordable after-school care for about 1,200 children. Laura Davis, a senior from Lawrence and co-coordinator of M.I.L.K., said the group often worked with the Boys and Girls Club and thought the new program would work well with the children there.
Devon Cantwell, a junior from Topeka and a member of M.I.L.K., said at the end of the program the young girls will hold a bake sale to use their newly learned skills. She said the bake sale would teach the
She said she believed it was important to target girls at an early age to address these issues and the truth surrounding the expectations and stereotypes, which was why a large section of the curriculum was devoted to self-image.
Davis said stereotypes and expectations of the "perfect woman" often cause young girls to become self-conscious.
"They are constantly inundated with imagery of women that they are expected to look like or act like," Davis said.
"They can be part of a cool exclusive girls club," Yanker said.
girls because successful college women would be running the program.
"Any girl or woman who is confident and independent is bound to have a much brighter future," Davis said. "It will be the future that she chooses to have, whatever that may be."
Report: Number of international students increasing at University
Davis said she hoped to provide mentorship during the "awkward period" and help girls become individually stronger.
CAMPUS|3A
"The man doesn't always have to make the money," Cantwell said.
girls that they don't need a man in their lives to be successful.
International students, who come mainly from China, Saudi Arabia Indonesia and the Republic of Korea, now make up 7 percent of the nearly 30,000-person student body.
FINALS|3A
For an'A,' do more than study
Students should also take care of their mental and physical well-being to succeed with finals. Student Success has launched a new website with schedules for stress-busting events and exercise classes to help students out with this stressful time of year.
H
No luck. The mechanics told Strusz, a senior from Republic, Mo., that her rim was cracked and bent. A new one cost her $150.
age - When she was driving her car to the shop for an oil change and tuneup.
"I'm used to hitting potholes
"As a poor college student, you cross your fingers that this one didn't pop your tire or bend your rim," Strusz said.
"Notorious"
But search "Lawrence, KS
If you search "Eudora, KS potholes" on Google, you get 1,500 results. For Topeka, there are 15,000 results. Going east down K-10, DeSoto has 21,000, Olathe has 19,000 and Overland Park has 37,000 Google results.
10A
Kansas lucks out with late foul call
KU beat out UCLA in the final second after a controversial call sent Mario Little to the free throw line with the game tied at 76 and 0.7 seconds left. Check out our post-game coverage.
SEE POTHOLES ON PAGE 3A
INDEX
Classifieds...8A
Crossword...4A
Cryptoquips...4A
Opinion...5A
Sports...10A
Sudoku...4A
WEATHER
TODAY
51 29
Mostly Cloudy
SATURDAY
39 19
SUNDAY
Partly Cloudy
SUNDAY
36 16
Partly Cloudy
Partly Cloudy
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