Lauren Bacon - Public Art Pitch Reflection

1.) I would be most inclined to fund the "Picnic on the Mall" public art project. I love how the chalkboard/pewter statues are set up to be interactive and that students/alumni/visitors can add to the art. The ability to change the art intrigues me. Before this course I always thought of art as something to be looked at and admired. Breaking this mold by adding an interactive aspect challenges typical norms. Moreover, the statues are placed in meaningful places throughout campus, drawing attention to the beauty Butler holds.

2.) Out of all of the proposals, I would think the "Ask Blue" project would be most expensive. First, the purchase of the touch screens will be very expensive. Second, the upkeep and repairs of the touch screen technology will also be extremely expensive. Plus, since there are four locations, this increases the cost. Finally, the physical materials to create four statues of the proposed size will add to the cost.

3.) The only thing I think I would revise would be to try and find a way to make models of the academic buildings and actually show how the catwalks would look when connected to them. We attempted to do so with cardboard, but it looked cheap and took away from how compelling the plexiglass models of the catwalks were.

Public Art Pitch Reflection

1) If I were a Butler Alum looking to invest in one of these projects I would probably choose the Butler Planner. The Butler Planner would be unique to Butler, it would add an aesthetic value that would really help to brighten our campus, and its utility as an information center and a place to lounge would be a great asset. I definitely think the Butler planner fills a need for students to be more informed about what's going on around campus and to have easier access to that information.

2) I think the Butler planner would require the most initial funding. It involves several large structures as well as the planner itself, all of which would be costly to build. Because it is outside there could also be significant maintenance costs to keep things running smoothly and looking good.

3) If we could revise our pitch, I think we might expand a little on the benefits the project would bring to campus. I feel that we got it all in there, but we could have slowed down and focused more on each individual benefit and aspect of the project.

Public Art Pitch Reflection

1. If I were a Butler alum I think I would fund the "Ask Blue" project. I feel like their project would be the most applicable and useful public art piece. Its ability to manage the immense amount of information we all receive concerning events and news is an extremely desirable trait. Speaking as a person involved in many different organizations on campus, I can definitely see how it could potentially increase attendance at events and allow for better organization of information. The design is quite simple and would be easy to fund and to create. These traits would be desirable if cost management were being considered.
2. I believe that the "Jungle Jim" project would be the most expensive to fund. It has many intricate parts that would need maintenance such as the outdoor treadmill and the giant jungle gym structure. The treadmill would need to be weather proofed in the winter, and maintenance would have to maintain it as well. Snow would need to be removed from the jungle gym structure to prevent accidents. Overall, my thought is that this project would do better in an environment with more predictable weather.
3. I don't think I would change our pitch. I feel that our pitch was extremely important in getting the class to understand the purpose and significance of our project. We needed to pull at the similarities and previous experiences of people who are apart of the Butler community and I feel that we did that. No matter how many pictures a person shows of their public art piece, there is still the aspect of making that art piece important to others. I feel that our pitch did that.

Public Art Pitch Reflection

1. I really loved all of them but if I were a Butler alum I would invest in "The Butler Planner." I think it shows that art can be interactive and informative! And I think it would be a fun thing for future students to see and lay out on and it could help people find their way on campus.

2. Although I REALLY liked it, I think the "Jungle Jim" project would require the most funding because of all the material involved. The "Jim" figure would cost a lot of money to build and I think the treadmills would cost a lot of money to install because of the technology and electricity to keep them running.

3. No, I think we presented our project very well. I believe the best part of our presentation was the fact that we really got in-depth as to how the touch-screen would work and we thoroughly explained what "Ask Blue" would include.

Caroline Hedrick- Public Art Pitch Reflection

1. Which project would you vote for besides your own and why?
I and a Butler alum would probably choose the group who had the "Ask Blue" group. This idea was very similar to the project that our group came up with. Both addressed the same problem that seemed evident to a majority of students on campus. The projects had a central location for students to find out about events ahead of time to improve attendance. I know that in the past, knowledge of events was hard to come by, especially without a centralized email.
2. I believe our project (the books and planner) would cost the most. With the large digital thirteen foot planner would be fairly costly just by itself. In addition the books and chairs would only add to the price of the entire art piece. However, it would be worth the hefty cost with its beauty and efficiency.
3. Would you revise your pitch? If not, what was the best part of the pitch?
The best part of our presentation was probably the uniqueness of the video created by Carly. It definitely turned some head and grabbed people's attention. The video showed the drawing process and also focused on the location of our project. On top of all that, it showed each individual part of our project (the planner, books, lounge chairs, and the bookmark desks). We met and made changes in our speech and practiced. Everyone worked hard and had fun making ideas a near-reality for our campus.

Public Art Pitch Reflection- Carly Sobolewski

1.) I really enjoyed listening to each presentation and thought all the projects were creative but if I had to pick one to help fund it would be the Butler Bubble Wand. This group's piece really stood out from the rest. It is more conceptual than all of the others and it seemed like they put alot of thought into it. The simplicity of the wand makes it beautiful and harder to interpret by prospective students and visitors. I like the idea that the true meaning intended by the group would be a little secret we have here at Butler and it would also be a daily reminder of our close community.

2.) Personally I think that the Jungle Jim idea would be the most financially demanding. The size of both the monkey bar man and the track would require a large amount of work, time and money to build. Also because it is seasonal it would need more maintenance and repair work if broken. However, as a runner I do like the idea of an outdoor treadmill because staring at a wall while running inside is extremely obnoxious!

3.) Overall I think our presentation went well. We met beforehand and practiced what we were going to say more than once. I think the flow of speech could have been a little better but I'm very proud of Caroline and Radha for working so hard. Also we didn't remember to point out that we had our models set out on our table. I think the best part of our presentation was the video just because it was unexpected, short, and sweet. We had alot of fun with this project.

Public Art Pitch Reflection

If I were to pick one of the projects to be funded on campus, I would probably choose the scavenger hunt. Some people may think it wouldn’t be so much “fun” for current Butler students because it is more for kids and alums, but personally I enjoyed reading each hint and going to the next piece of art. I also thought everything incorporated represents Butler University as a whole pretty well. I thought the way it was set out all over campus was pretty neat. I would love going on this scavenger hunt on a nice sunny day just to get my mind off of schoolwork. It would also give prospective students and children something exciting to do on campus when they visit rather than just walking around and getting a tour. Butler definitely has a beautiful campus, but I remember most of my tours of different universities being the same and not very exciting. If Butler had this different edge to it, I know more students would prefer to attend this university to others.

Personally, I think the Jungle Jim would require the most funding. Not only because it is a huge project, but also because there would be many technical things involved in building it. Also, it would be harder to maintain than the rest of the projects due to its size and technology. It is definitely a very creative idea, but it would be hard and expensive to manage before and after it is built. Building this would also take much more material and workers, which would get expensive, but if it weren’t for the cost, this idea was also very good.

I think we did fairly well on the presentation, but I would change a few things. If I could revise anything about our project, I would have tried to have a table in the front of the room to put our model on so people could see it better. I think that would have helped, but we never really thought about it beforehand. I also would have practiced more as a whole group, but overall it went well and we touched on everything we wanted to. I definitely loved our idea and was excited about it, which is probably why we put more effort into it. It is easier to do more things for something you love or are passionate about. I thought the best part of our presentation was that we had a video. It set us apart from all the other presentations.

Public Art Pitch Reflection

The best presentation for the public art pitch was the Ask Blue TV stations. I think that this is a really good idea for our school because it is both creative, useful, and interactive. With the places that the group decided that they would put their project, it would be an essential asset to the Butler Community. It offers so many different options that it would provide within. All the things that Butler offers such extracurriculars, speakers, and events should all be given as information to the campus. 

I think that the Picnic on the Mall would be most expensive. Their project consists 20 individual statues throughout the campus. I think that in addition to all the materials, construction and everything, with maintenance to upkeep the statues could end up being very costly in the long end. 

If we could do our pitch again, I wish that we would have been a bit more prepared. I think that our ideas were very solid, but if we would have had a presentation like a PowerPoint, it would have really enhanced our presentation in total. I really did like our public art idea but when we went to construct it, it didn't work out like we had hoped. I wish we could have made our original work better.

Public Art Pitch Reflection

1) I think I would fund "Blue's Buried Treasure". I just really liked the idea of it and I really think It would be enjoyed by the students around campus! I thought it was really creative yet interactive and it would add a great deal of aesthetics to our campus. It was different and interesting. And the poems were really catchy.

2) The most expensive project I would have to say would probably be "Jungle Jim" due to it's extremely large size and the technology of the large treadmill circuling it.

3) I actually think my group did a good job at presenting our pitch. I was short and sweet yet explained all our pain point and we had really good visuals. I also think the way we presented it was in a way that everyone could relate to.

Public Art Pitch Reflection

1) If I had to choose one of the Public Art pitches to invest in, I would choose the Ask Blue interactive bulletin board. The reason I would invest in this one, is because I find it to be very useful to the Butler campus. Many people, especially incoming freshman such as myself, are always wondering where a certain building is, or when a certain event is taking place. The bulletin board would definitely be able to answer any question that any student might have.
2) It is hard to say which of the Public Art pieces would require the most funding. I would say that the Jungle Jim project might be the most expensive one. The treadmills that go around the Jungle Jim might be the biggest part of this project. Also, the Jungle Jim itself will be quite expensive if it were to be installed on the campus.
3) If I had to go back and revise my project, I would definitely change a few things. First, I would try to make some sort of power point presentation to describe my idea more thoroughly. Also, I would change the size and structure of the project. If I could change the structure, I would not make it out of steel, and I would also not make it rotate. There were many flaws in my presentation, I would probably just start over from scratch.

Public Art Pitch Reflection

If I were to fund one of the public art projects, I would choose the Bubble Wand piece. I thought that the group did a really great job of explaining its significance, the needs it addressed, and the visual components were really nice as well. I also liked that a bit of mystery was included in that it's not quite obvious what the exact meaning of the structure is. In terms of funding, I'd say that the technology-based projects would be the most expensive. In particular, Jungle Jim would probably cost the most due to its large size and high technology outdoor treadmills. There's also the possibility of a lot of maintenance if the treadmill were to break down, or the need to hire supervisors for safety.

If we had the chance to revise our pitch, I don't think that we would have done anything differently in terms of content. If anything, it might have been beneficial to write out and practice EXACTLY what to say. On the same token, I liked that fact that we didn't have anything memorized because it sounded more natural and really highlighted our knowledge and excitement about our project. I think the best part of our presentation was that we were able to get a bit of audience participation by walking the class through the scavenger hunt.

Veronika Lewis-Public Art Pitch Reflection

1.If I was going to choose a public art project to fund as an alumna from Butler, I would have to pick Blue's Buried Treasures. Not only is it a creative idea, and would be a fun interactive way to interest incoming students to the school, during tours, it is representative of cool things about the school. Each area was very specific with what sculpture was put where, and the reasoning was well put together. The objects seemed awesome and big enough to entertain a small child too, and the rhymes were cool to figure out. This is family friendly, and gets students to know the campus and school in a more creative and fun way.
2. I think "Picnic on the mall" would require the most funding because not only are there 21 sculptures, I think I counted, that are life size looking, but also they are pewter which is going to end up being extremely expensive. I love the idea; I just think that many sculptures around campus would be a lot of money.
3. I don't think I'd revise our pitch, because we were pretty excited about our idea, although I loved everyone's ideas as well. I think the best part of our pitch was discussing the four things we thought we'd represent with Jungle Jim, being school spirit, community, play, and physical well being. We explained each well and I think all four of those things are important factors to being successful with school and as a representation of a school.

Public Artwork Project

Mike Ruff, Sarah Leib, Mikey Tsama

Aesthetics and Design

February 21, 2011

Microphone Sculpture (Right outside of Clowes Hall)

For our project we decided to build a microphone out of wire located right in the front lawn of Clowes Memorial Hall. Built into the microphone will also be speakers, so that whenever there is an event at Clowes, the appropriate song will play through the microphone. In the case of no event, the microphone can play a variety of different kinds of music throughout the day. The microphone will also be able to rotate 360 degrees, allowing spectators to view the art work from every angle imaginable.

The reason why a microphone seemed appropriate to construct is because of the importance Clowes Memorial Hall has not only to Butler University, but also to the city of Indianapolis. With something as basic as a microphone, the numerous of world famous musicians, actors and actresses that have performed at Clowes Hall would not be able to showcase their form of art. Also, Clowes Hall is right alongside Hinkle Field house as one of the main attractions on Butler’s campus.

The reason why we think our microphone should be chosen as the public artwork to be displayed on campus is because not only is the placement ideal to have a piece of public art, but because everyone can relate as why the microphone is in front of the theater and not only is it visually appealing, it has audio for all ages to enjoy.

Public Art Project

Radha Patel, Carly Sobolewski, Caroline Hedrick

PCA Public Art Project

The Butler Planner

At first when we were told we have to come up with an idea or plan about public art we can put on out beautiful Butler campus, we had no idea what to do. Caroline started it off by giving an idea of putting a big diploma or graduation hat on campus in which people could study or just “hang out.” Later, we came up with an idea of building a gigantic basketball with a graduation hat on it signifying how important basketball is to Butler as well as academics. The big basketball would have a couple basketball courts inside of it and it would have a wall of fame showing the history of Butler’s men and women’s basketball team. Another idea we came up with was making a big sculpture of a paintbrush that would be leaning against Lily Hall (the building). There would be a pallet on top if the paintbrush located above the roof and there would be tables on this pallet shaped as different colors of paint. On a nice sunny day students would be able to study up there and see Butler’s campus. In the end we decided none of these ideas were extremely appealing because we wanted to come up with something all Butler students would find somewhat useful and is also artistic.

We set out four different criteria for out public art project. The criteria are site specificity, how interactive it is, whether it holds significance to Butler, and how functional it is. As we were going through out list of projects and seeing how the criteria worked with them, we started talking about how we never know what is going on throughout the week and weekend because we either skip over the emails we receive or we do not know because we didn’t notice the banners around campus. We decided there should be some way students can see what is happening on campus; therefore we decided to make the “Butler Planner.” It would be located on the open space between Atherton Union and Jordan Hall, right in front of Starbucks. We chose this area because many people pass this location throughout their day and it is not far from the main buildings on campus. Students could just stop by the “Butler Planner” for a moment and see what is happening on campus.

The “Butler Planner” would have each day of the week on it and under each day it would list the activities going on throughout the campus or even at Broad Ripple. The board would light up once it gets dark. The screen would be black with white lettering and at night the outline of the planner would light up neon blue so it is easy to spot and visible. The Planner would be made out of fiberglass and the books would be made up of stone and painted with shiny paint to somewhat correspond to the fiberglass. The “Butler Planner” would look exactly like out real planner and would have the same design on the front of the cover. The books in the back of the Planner where we can sit and study would be different colors, which include green, purple, red and yellow. The green book has a saying that says “The Butler Way” and a map on it because it is leaning against the tier of books. This map would be useful for anyone who doesn’t know where everything is located on the campus. The other three books have words the Butler students either represent of strive to achieve: courage, respect and values. They are strong words and they would remind Butler student of what Butler University believes in. Also, throughout the lawn we have books that are propped open so students can sit and eat or read. These books would be different colors depending on what color fits best with its surroundings. We decided to add more to the books we could add bookmarks to the books where students can still sit and enjoy the sun and nice weather.

As a group, we loved this idea, which is why we were so passionate about it. We, as Butler students, would love something like this on campus. By working on this project, we accomplished our goal of making a public art display and making is useful to the Butler community. It fits all of our criteria pretty accurately and best of all, we loved this project and coming up with the idea. We actually had fun with this.

Public Art Project - Nicole, Lori, Marissa

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

Jungle Jim

PUBLIC ART PROPOSAL

We decided to pick an area of the quad between the HRC and Hinkle to place our public art. This spot is known around campus to all different types of people. Many people venture to the HRC to play basketball, grab a delicious smoothie, to workout, use the pool or the sauna, or even just to hang out with friends. Many people also surround Hinkle for not only all athletic events, but sports have practices over there. We decided this would be a prime spot to place public art since it is frequently used by staff as well. Our idea is to create a huge three lane treadmill-like machine, similar to a moving sidewalk, just faster, that will circle a huge 3 story rocket like-climbing bar device in the shape of a man we would like to call “Jungle Jim”. We thought the name was cute because he would have bars all around him to climb just like the old days on the playground when we used to play on jungle gyms. The figure would be wearing a Butler hat to represent school spirit.

When we envisioned this public art the reason we chose an outside venue because we really think older kids, especially college students, rarely have the opportunity to “play” outside or get fresh air. Most workouts, unless participating in a sport, involve being inside and now this gives everyone a chance to participate in a fun activity and workout running on the outdoor treadmills. It also gives students a chance to go into their childhood memories and fun times on the playground from back in the day. It gives everyone a chance to access their inner child back when things were a lot simpler, and more relaxing. We thought this was an important thing considering many college students deal with stress, pressure and so much going on that there is little time for relaxing fun. As a child, this outdoor activity was a huge sense of relief for any burden a kid could be feeling. Now with this "Jungle Jim” available, college students can release some of their tension by heading back to a life of fun and innocence for a couple hours. We felt this piece of public art would bring a community aspect because the various amount of people would be able to join together in this spontaneous group fitness activity.

Jungle Jim

Public Art Proposal Paper

We decided to pick an area of the quad between the HRC and Hinkle to place our public art. This spot is known around campus to all different types of people. Many people venture to the HRC to play basketball, grab a delicious smoothie, to workout, use the pool or the sauna, or even just to hang out with friends. Many people also surround Hinkle for not only all athletic events, but sports have practices over there. We decided this would be a prime spot to place public art since it is frequently used by staff as well. Our idea is to create a huge three lane treadmill like machine, similar to a moving sidewalk, just faster, that will circle a huge 3 story rocket like-climbing bar device in the shape of a man we would like to call “Jungle Jim”. We thought the name was cute because he would have bars all around him to climb just like the old days on the playground when we used to play on jungle gyms. The figure would be wearing a Butler hat representing the university. When we envisioned this public art the reason we chose an outside venue because we really think older kids, especially college students, rarely have the opportunity to “play” outside or get fresh air. Most workouts, unless participating in a sport, involve being inside and now this gives everyone a chance to participate in a fun activity and workout running on the outdoor treadmills. It also gives students a chance to go back into their childhood and relinquish those memories and fun times on the playground from back in the day. It gives everyone a chance to access their inner child and go back to simpler, relaxing times in their lives. We thought this was an important thing considering many college students deal with stress and so much going on that there is little time for relaxing fun. As a child that’s all it was, and now with this jungle “Jim” available, college students could release some of their tension by heading back to their childhood full of fun and innocence. We felt this piece of public art would bring a community aspect because the various amount of people would be able to join together in this spontaneous group fitness environment.

Public Art Project

Jamie Kostecki, Kathryn Graham, and Katie Zeiger

Blue's Buried Treasures:

Public artwork provides an excuse for people to visit the site in which it’s displayed. It would only make sense to integrate public art into a college campus in order to motivate and draw people onto campus. That’s exactly what we’re attempting to accomplish with our five installations of artwork on Butler University’s campus that are site specific, useful, and entertaining. We call our project Blue’s Buried Treasures, and it consists of five partially buried objects that serve specific purposes and are quite large in size; we drew inspiration from Claes Oldenburg’s buried bicycle. The pieces include a rubber paw print, a graduation cap, a pencil, a bone, and a basketball. Each artwork is accompanied by a sign that contains a clue guiding the participant in a bit of a scavenger hunt around campus meant to show off some of its important sites.

The hunt begins with a giant paw print with a ten-foot diameter on the main Mall. We understand and acknowledge that many students utilize the Mall to play various sports or to do homework, so we envision the paw print being on the grassy area in front of the BU sign and behind the concrete Butler University sign. This ensures that it will not interfere with the many activities that the Mall plays host to, and it will even add to them. The paw print will be made up of the rubber material that many playgrounds utilize. The material looks like tiny cubes of blue rubber, but they’re all stuck together to provide a surface with great traction and durability. We figured that the Mall would be a great, central starting point for the “tour” of campus.

The sign on the Mall next to the paw print then leads partakers to the giant graduation cap located at the back of Irwin Library near the ResCo parking lot. The cap would be about ten feet tall and would provide comfortable shade for anyone interested in cooling off. This particular structure would be made out of black fiberglass, to ensure

durability, and the tassel would consist of rope strong enough to support 300 pounds. The tassel would serve as a helping hand for anyone who would want to climb on the structure. We placed the graduation cap near the library because students obviously have to put in a lot of time and effort into their school work in order to graduate, and many Butler students choose to study at Irwin Library.

After the library, visitors are guided to the grassy area in between the Pharmacy Building and Lilly Hall where a ten-foot-long bench lies in the form of a pencil.

The utility of this structure is obvious enough, and it would be a foot-and-a-half tall to insure accessibility for children. We picture the bench to be made up out of painted teak wood. We thought it’s important that visitors to campus see the academic buildings as well, and the pencil bench would lead them right past all of the main academic buildings. We associated a pencil with homework and academics, so it was only natural that this particular area would serve as the home for this structure.

The next site would be the Holcomb Gardens: quite the vision in itself! We thought that a partially buried bone that doubles as a slide would be a fun addition to this already playful

area. The Holcomb Gardens attracts a lot of families, and we thought it would be an excellent idea to provide some entertainment for the younger visitors as well. The slide would consist of off-white colored plastic in order to resemble the appearance of a dog’s prized possession. This specific location for the bone also has comedic value in that dogs typically choose to bury a bone in a garden.

The last stop in our scavenger hunt tour is Hinkle Fieldhouse. Our basketball team’s NCAA journey was, and continues to be, a great accomplishment for a school our size; we feel that it’s important that something be created to remind everyone of Butler’s achievement.

An eight-foot-tall basketball made out of burnt orange colored plastic would lie in the grassy area between the HRC and Hinkle parking lot. Stairs in the back of the basketball would provide a fantastic scene for picture taking with Hinkle Fieldhouse in the background. Again, the relevance of the structure to its environment is self-explanatory.

Our public art would greatly add to Butler’s campus. It would attract families from surrounding neighborhoods and encourage them to enjoy our campus as much as we do. It would also serve as fun entertainment for prospective Butler students when they visit our campus. Perhaps it could help to seal the deal in their decision to attend Butler! Public art on campus promotes our Liberal Arts education—yet another one of Butler’s unique qualities. Each structure not only would look nice and add to our campus’s physical appeal, but they all have specific functions that they serve. From a bench, to a slide, to a photo-op promoter, every one has interactive qualities that appeal to a wide audience. Butler definitely could always use some more art, and our public art installation would be the perfect solution.

The "Butler Bubble" Wand

According to www.butler.edu, “life at Butler goes way beyond the classroom.” There are over 115 student organizations and clubs on campus. Students are always involved on campus with things other than academics. Other than Butler’s strong extracurricular clubs and activities, Butler values tradition. From “Dominic the Donkey” being played throughout campus from fraternity windows during the holiday season to complaints about the smell and quality of the food at Atherton Union, Butler students share an emotional bond consisting of trends and traditions. One of the most popular and interesting concepts within the trends of Butler students is the “Butler Bubble.” The “Butler Bubble” is an imaginary boundary around Butler University’s campus. It represents the fact that most students at Butler do not need to venture off of campus for needs or amusement; the campus is self-sufficient, in a sense. Many students and faculty members the “Butler Bubble” as a negative concept, but we are proposing to place a piece of artwork on Butler University’s campus to make people think positively about the bubble and reinforce the opinions of people who believe in it.

The statue that represents the “Butler Bubble” will be a relatively large, yellow bubble wand. The wand will be located on the South Mall of campus, near the Star Fountain and Jordon Hall. This is a prime location for the bubble wand statue since Jordon Hall is a very popular academic building for students in all majors. Every student should be reminded of the fact that Butler acts like a large, close-knit family within a bubble. For people who are visiting Butler or are touring campus will notice the statue and may ask about its significance. Along with Butler’s outstanding academic programs, the interest in the close-knit and self-sufficient community on Butler’s campus may allow prospective incoming students to choose Butler as the university that they will attend.

The “Butler Bubble” wand statue would be an asset to Butler campus because it symbolizes the common bond that students share with each other. Since everyone’s college experience is somewhat different than each other’s and everyone interprets artwork differently, the “Butler Bubble” statue can be a piece of public artwork that can be enjoyed by all.

Public Art Project

Andre’ Smith, Lexie Marin, and Keriann Roush
Professors Rao and Skinner
PCA 261
22 February 2011
Public Art Proposal Project:
Ask Blue

For the public art proposal project, our group has decided to make a touch screen interactive sculpture called Ask Blue. Ask Blue is a figure that features a sculpture of Blue the bulldog, metal blue and silver flames, a silver textured metal frame around a monitor, and a shiny black painted wall behind it.

Ask Blue will possess numerous things that we find would be useful to people on campus. It will have a touch screen calendar, which will have a list of all the events and club activities on campus with information regarding time and requirements included. There will be a stamp next to events that count towards the Butler Cultural Requirement. It will also include a map of campus telling the user where they are and how to get to wherever they want to go. There will be a search feature at the top of the screen if the user is just concerned about a specific topic. While the machine is not being used, various fun facts about Butler will flash across the screen to really give Ask Blue a friendly feel.

The color and design pattern play a very important part in the proposal. The blue and silver flames serve as a play on the Butler torch symbol, which we believe is not really incorporated a lot in things on campus. We also decided to use the statue of Blue to make the user feel like they are really getting information from Blue, which makes it more interactive. The use of the silver textured frame and the black wall serve to make Ask Blue more visually appealing to draw people’s attention and to get them to use it.

We believe Ask Blue is a necessity on campus. We all sat down as a group and talked about issues we faced as students and saw that we all had similar problems. We all saw that we sometimes overlook emails, do not know when certain clubs meet, find it hard to navigate the school website, and want to find a way to meet new people. Our problems are problems all students face, upperclassmen and lower classmen, and Ask Blue’s features help solve them. Since there is an easy to use calendar that lists all events for each day so students can sort through which ones they want to attend. And, we all agreed that it was a little tricky finding our way around campus at the beginning of the year. But, with the map that can tell you where to go, this problem would no longer be an issue.

Another added benefit for campus is that Ask Blue allows for advertisements. Campus clubs can advertise on Ask Blue for free, which is great for clubs who are looking to add more members and raise awareness for themselves. While a user is navigating through Ask Blue, ads will appear at the bottom of the screen informing them about different clubs and how to join. In addition, local businesses can advertise on Ask Blue for a fee, which could be used by campus to fund other projects.

We chose four locations for Ask Blue: the HRC, the ResCo lobby, Starbucks in Atherton Union, and the South Mall. We realized that these are the places with the highest amount of student traffic so this would allow Ask Blue to be utilized in its fullest. To raise awareness for Ask Blue, we have designed a flyer that would be distributed to students on campus and nearby businesses. This way, the community will know that this utility exists and will want to use it.

Overall, we as a group see Ask Blue as being a creative and innovative way for students to find out information about on campus activities and local businesses, which allows them to be more involved and find things they enjoy at Butler.