Picnic on the Mall
As a group, we believe that Butler University would greatly benefit from a work of public art that truly represents the everyday lives of the people who Butler exists to serve: its students. This belief served as the starting point of the public art project that we would like to propose to the Butler Community: Picnic on the Mall. This piece will include 20 individual statues, placed strategically among those areas of campus which students frequent most and representing the activities that a Butler student may engage in as he or she goes about a typical day on campus. Although the statues will be dispersed, a portion of them will be centralized on Butler University’s Mall to represent a common meeting place for students. The picturesque statues will be life-sized and molded to symbolize a variety of student demographic qualities to represent Butler’s emphasis on diversity. A list of the statues to be created, as well as their proposed locations, is attached for your review.
In addition to serving as an aesthetically pleasing and welcoming token on Butler’s campus, these statues will serve a dual function as an advertising tool for student activities. Each statue will be coated with a pewter-toned chalkboard paint so as to invite interaction between Butler University students and the statues. It is our hope that students will utilize the provided buckets of chalk, located at the foot of specific statues, to write information regarding upcoming events on the corresponding statue for students to view as they walk by on their way to class, lunch, or a sporting event. For example, if a meeting of the Ultimate Frisbee Club is occurring soon, a member of that club could advertise this event’s time and location on the statue of a Frisbee player, located on the Butler Mall. Students interested in Frisbee would know that any available information could be found on the statue, and would therefore be able to connect with students already involved with the Frisbee Club. In this way our statues serve an important facilitative function along with their aesthetic value. As a safety note, lights will be installed at the foot of each statue and will be illuminated on a timer when night falls so that students feel safe on campus and do not mistake a statue for a person wandering campus at night, as well as so they do not run into a statue in the dark.
When considering a public art project, we as a collective group believe that a piece of public art on Butler’s campus must meet four criteria. First, it must be interactive for the students who will be experiencing the artwork on a daily basis. We believe that our piece, “Picnic on the Mall” will invite Butler students to interact with the statues by using them for advertising as well as by causing students to want to take photographs with the statues, perhaps using them in scavenger hunts or other activities. Second, we believe a public art piece must be representative of Butler University. “Picnic on the Mall” is designed specifically to represent the different types of students and different student activities that occur at Butler University, and the image of the statues will be noticeable on campus without feeling out of place among our architecture. Third, we believe that a piece of public artwork should be aesthetically pleasing and visually interesting. Due to the intricate detail that will be shown on our statues, they will fulfill this criteria quite nicely. Lastly, we believe that Butler’s next piece of public art should be interesting to students in that students will be inspired and will enjoy the artwork. We believe that students will enjoy discovering new statues across campus and will especially enjoy identifying with those statues that depict activities that each individual student is him or herself interested in. The dark, neutral pewter color of the statues is purposeful in that it helps to represent ambiguity and the fact that the statues can represent a number of Butler students at once.
As we have demonstrated, we believe that “Picnic on the Mall” will make a welcome and coveted addition to Butler’s campus. In addition to pleasing current students, we believe that the statues will intrigue potential future students of Butler University to picture themselves around our campus participating in the various activities depicted by the statues. Similarly, we envision Butler alumni desiring to come back to campus to view these statues and to reminisce about the experiences that they cherished when engaging in these activities during their time as Butler students. In this way, we believe that our piece of public artwork is very site-specific and will add a certain element of appreciation to Butler University’s campus as a whole. Works similar to this have been done in other places, such as the city of Carmel, IN, and have added a great deal to the landscape of those locations. We encourage you to consider our proposal to make “Picnic on the Mall” the next big addition to our beloved Butler University.
Statues on Butler’s campus:
Statue Activity
Location
Basketball player
Hinkle walkway/entrance
Runner
Canal
Football player
Near Butler Bowl (bleachers)
Carrying Starbucks
By bushes by Starbucks
Two friends talking
On Holcomb steps
Carrying food
By Atherton
Walking backwards (giving tour)
By Robertson
Playing the guitar and singing
By Clowes
Dancing
By Lilly
Frisbee player – throwing Frisbee
On the Mall
Student traveler w/ Globe
By Holcomb Observatory
Student carrying backpack
Outside Jordan Hall
Reading on a bench
Outside Irwin
Laying in the sun
On the Mall
Rollerblading/longboarding
On a sidewalk by the Mall
Campus golf
On the mall – further down
Girl with bucket of chalk
Starbucks patio by C-club
Jumping in Star Fountain
Star Fountain
Couple holding hands
By belltower balcony
Yoga
Holcomb Gardens
As a group, we believe that Butler University would greatly benefit from a work of public art that truly represents the everyday lives of the people who Butler exists to serve: its students. This belief served as the starting point of the public art project that we would like to propose to the Butler Community: Picnic on the Mall. This piece will include 20 individual statues, placed strategically among those areas of campus which students frequent most and representing the activities that a Butler student may engage in as he or she goes about a typical day on campus. Although the statues will be dispersed, a portion of them will be centralized on Butler University’s Mall to represent a common meeting place for students. The picturesque statues will be life-sized and molded to symbolize a variety of student demographic qualities to represent Butler’s emphasis on diversity. A list of the statues to be created, as well as their proposed locations, is attached for your review.
In addition to serving as an aesthetically pleasing and welcoming token on Butler’s campus, these statues will serve a dual function as an advertising tool for student activities. Each statue will be coated with a pewter-toned chalkboard paint so as to invite interaction between Butler University students and the statues. It is our hope that students will utilize the provided buckets of chalk, located at the foot of specific statues, to write information regarding upcoming events on the corresponding statue for students to view as they walk by on their way to class, lunch, or a sporting event. For example, if a meeting of the Ultimate Frisbee Club is occurring soon, a member of that club could advertise this event’s time and location on the statue of a Frisbee player, located on the Butler Mall. Students interested in Frisbee would know that any available information could be found on the statue, and would therefore be able to connect with students already involved with the Frisbee Club. In this way our statues serve an important facilitative function along with their aesthetic value. As a safety note, lights will be installed at the foot of each statue and will be illuminated on a timer when night falls so that students feel safe on campus and do not mistake a statue for a person wandering campus at night, as well as so they do not run into a statue in the dark.
When considering a public art project, we as a collective group believe that a piece of public art on Butler’s campus must meet four criteria. First, it must be interactive for the students who will be experiencing the artwork on a daily basis. We believe that our piece, “Picnic on the Mall” will invite Butler students to interact with the statues by using them for advertising as well as by causing students to want to take photographs with the statues, perhaps using them in scavenger hunts or other activities. Second, we believe a public art piece must be representative of Butler University. “Picnic on the Mall” is designed specifically to represent the different types of students and different student activities that occur at Butler University, and the image of the statues will be noticeable on campus without feeling out of place among our architecture. Third, we believe that a piece of public artwork should be aesthetically pleasing and visually interesting. Due to the intricate detail that will be shown on our statues, they will fulfill this criteria quite nicely. Lastly, we believe that Butler’s next piece of public art should be interesting to students in that students will be inspired and will enjoy the artwork. We believe that students will enjoy discovering new statues across campus and will especially enjoy identifying with those statues that depict activities that each individual student is him or herself interested in. The dark, neutral pewter color of the statues is purposeful in that it helps to represent ambiguity and the fact that the statues can represent a number of Butler students at once.
As we have demonstrated, we believe that “Picnic on the Mall” will make a welcome and coveted addition to Butler’s campus. In addition to pleasing current students, we believe that the statues will intrigue potential future students of Butler University to picture themselves around our campus participating in the various activities depicted by the statues. Similarly, we envision Butler alumni desiring to come back to campus to view these statues and to reminisce about the experiences that they cherished when engaging in these activities during their time as Butler students. In this way, we believe that our piece of public artwork is very site-specific and will add a certain element of appreciation to Butler University’s campus as a whole. Works similar to this have been done in other places, such as the city of Carmel, IN, and have added a great deal to the landscape of those locations. We encourage you to consider our proposal to make “Picnic on the Mall” the next big addition to our beloved Butler University.
Statues on Butler’s campus:
Statue Activity
Location
Basketball player
Hinkle walkway/entrance
Runner
Canal
Football player
Near Butler Bowl (bleachers)
Carrying Starbucks
By bushes by Starbucks
Two friends talking
On Holcomb steps
Carrying food
By Atherton
Walking backwards (giving tour)
By Robertson
Playing the guitar and singing
By Clowes
Dancing
By Lilly
Frisbee player – throwing Frisbee
On the Mall
Student traveler w/ Globe
By Holcomb Observatory
Student carrying backpack
Outside Jordan Hall
Reading on a bench
Outside Irwin
Laying in the sun
On the Mall
Rollerblading/longboarding
On a sidewalk by the Mall
Campus golf
On the mall – further down
Girl with bucket of chalk
Starbucks patio by C-club
Jumping in Star Fountain
Star Fountain
Couple holding hands
By belltower balcony
Yoga
Holcomb Gardens
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