2008 Woodie Awards
Campus sculpture acts as oversized sundial
Jeff Mason
Issue date: 7/30/08 Section: A&E
There are many sculptures and other works on campus that students and faculty alike may pass and wonder how they got there. The king of these objects may just be the sculpture "The Crossing," located between the Engineering Building and the Morris University Center.
The piece, made by 49-year-old sculptor Evan Lewis of Chicago, slightly resembles a beanie cap, with a dome frame and rotating wind catcher on top. Made of stainless steel, aluminum, concrete and a few strips of bronze, "The Crossing" is a bit more than a glorified wind catcher.
"It's located directly on the 90th meridian," Lewis said. "(It) passes directly through the campus and 'The Crossing' is right on that line, as is the (Religious Center)."
One of the most unique features of the sculpture focuses on the shadow it creates every day at solar noon, when the sun is at its highest point in the sky.
"(A) shadow is cast and it centers up right over (the North/South axis)," Lewis said. "It's like a horizontal bar that tells you what time of year it is."
Lewis said on summer solstice, the shadow is all the way at the south end of the pavilion, and during the winter solstice the shadow is at the very north end.
"So in the course of six months it moves from one end of the pavilion to another," Lewis said.
Lewis said the inspiration for the piece came as a continuation of previous work than anything else.
"I had already done some work in the past with pieces that make alignments with shadows, and I decided to do that with this piece," Lewis said.
Lewis has made sculptures that were publically and privately funded, and was commissioned to do some sculpting for Hollywood on the 1996 blockbuster "Twister."
"All those wind sculptures in the movie were his pieces," Eric Barnett, director of the University Museum, said. "I think it's an absolute hoot."
"The Crossing" was funded in accordance to an Illinois law mandating that some of the school's construction budget go toward the purchase of art.
The piece, made by 49-year-old sculptor Evan Lewis of Chicago, slightly resembles a beanie cap, with a dome frame and rotating wind catcher on top. Made of stainless steel, aluminum, concrete and a few strips of bronze, "The Crossing" is a bit more than a glorified wind catcher.
"It's located directly on the 90th meridian," Lewis said. "(It) passes directly through the campus and 'The Crossing' is right on that line, as is the (Religious Center)."
One of the most unique features of the sculpture focuses on the shadow it creates every day at solar noon, when the sun is at its highest point in the sky.
"(A) shadow is cast and it centers up right over (the North/South axis)," Lewis said. "It's like a horizontal bar that tells you what time of year it is."
Lewis said on summer solstice, the shadow is all the way at the south end of the pavilion, and during the winter solstice the shadow is at the very north end.
"So in the course of six months it moves from one end of the pavilion to another," Lewis said.
Lewis said the inspiration for the piece came as a continuation of previous work than anything else.
"I had already done some work in the past with pieces that make alignments with shadows, and I decided to do that with this piece," Lewis said.
Lewis has made sculptures that were publically and privately funded, and was commissioned to do some sculpting for Hollywood on the 1996 blockbuster "Twister."
"All those wind sculptures in the movie were his pieces," Eric Barnett, director of the University Museum, said. "I think it's an absolute hoot."
"The Crossing" was funded in accordance to an Illinois law mandating that some of the school's construction budget go toward the purchase of art.
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