Our public art piece, entitled "Of Treasures and Tunes," will be located on the Butler Mall between Star Fountain and Norris Plaza. We have designed a giant "X"-shaped, jumping-water fountain that creates a delightful melody upon the contact of the jumping water with a progression of specific, spherical basins. Although there are already seven fountains on campus, we decided to make the number an even eight. The structure we have designed is unlike the normal fountains around campus due to the aspect of the jumping water to and from many colored basins primarily made of recycled plastic material. The "X"-structure of the fountain is formed by a large center basin with four rows of four consecutive basins branching out from it. The basins within each row decrease in both height and circumference as their position away from the center basin increases. Each row of basins corresponds to a natural-tone color: blue, yellow, green, and black. The main basin will be equipped with four water jets while each of the smaller basins will have one bidirectional jet.
Furthermore, this fountain is interactive by means of allowing passersby to publically express their musical creativity. Visitors to the fountain are able to create their own tune by determining the specific orientation of switches that are located on the center water basin and correspond to the direction and timing of water flow to and from the other basins. During times when the human powered changing of switches is nil, the fountain will play a preprogrammed tune. This way there is never a dull moment with the fountain.
We chose to place our fountain on the Mall due to its openness and relatively central location on campus. There are benches around the center basin of the fountain to add another place for students to sit in the wide open area of the Mall; as well as to sit within the limits of the stucture and watch the jumping water. The benches will be constucted out of Polywood, a new-age lumber made from recycled plastic. The significance of the "X" shape of the fountain corresponds with the significance of an X on a treasure map. "X" marks the spot where the treasure can be cound. In the case of our public art piece, the "X" in the center of the Butler campus marks the spot where one will find his/her treasure map of life: at Butler. With a Butler experience, a student will graduate with all the tools he/she needs to successfully uncover the secrets life has locked away especially for him/her. In short, Butler is the graduate's map to the future; to uncovering life's great treasures.
Not only does the shape of the fountain have significance, but the sound it generates as well as the color of the basins and the jumping of the water has a purpose. The musical aspect of the fountain is initially representative of finding one's life son, one's grand purpose. However, the music is also supposed to symbolize the possible harmonious connection between nature and urbanization. The water itself is directly expressive of the basic foundation of life. The jumping of the water serves as a further connection between nature (the water in the air) and urban development (the man-made basins). The colors of teh basins also contain important meanings. The "yellow" sun crosses the "blue" sky and causes all things "green" to grow. Nevertheless, there comes a time for the sun to set on life and for death (black) to take its place.
We believe that our fountain should be chosen as the public art piece for Butler's campus because of its interactive capabilities, aesthetic uniqueness, and deep, underlying meaning to life and to finding one's place among the chaos by using the tools Butler provides.
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