Public Sculptures Will Enhance Landscape Near Campus Nursing Center

New construction and building demolition have changed the landscape at St. Louis Community College-Forest Park along Oakland Avenue. A piece of public art that has been on campus since 2004 will benefit from the change in scenery. 

Construction of the new Center for Nursing and Health Sciences, coupled with razing of the A and B Towers, offers an opportunity to move Jim Dine’s sculpture, “Weathered Venus.” The 7-foot-tall bronze nude was installed south of C Tower. The relocated sculpture soon will be visible from Oakland Avenue and be in the pathway of campus pedestrians. 

The piece is on loan from the Gateway Foundation. The foundation strives to enrich St. Louis life and culture by supporting efforts to acquire, create and improve tangible and durable art and urban design. 

Gateway Foundation also is bringing another recognizable piece out of storage for installation on the quadrangle south of the center. 

“Light Walls,” by Peter Walker and Partners, will be installed there later this year. “Light Walls” is a series of 10 stainless steel walls, each 15 feet high by 14 feet wide by 2 feet deep, illuminated with white LED light from below. The sculpture will provide both enhanced security and ornamentation for the quad. 

“Light Walls” has been in storage since it was removed from its previous location near the Enterprise Center in 2016. At that time, it was known as “Fog Walls,” and included a water feature that produced mist, as well as colored fluorescent lights. That water feature has been eliminated, and the colored fluorescent lights replaced with the more environmentally friendly LED technology. 

‘We are very grateful for the generosity of the Gateway Foundation in sharing this prominent art with our students, faculty and staff,” said Jeff Pittman, Ph.D., STLCC chancellor. 

Gateway Foundation is paying for both moves and sculpture maintenance. STLCC will be responsible only for the cost associated with electricity for the lighting sculpture. Both installations have an initial term period of up to 10 years, and automatically renew for successive five-year terms. There are no plans for removal.

STLCC currently has two other pieces are on loan from Gateway Foundation. “Gulliver,” by Tom Otterness, was installed at the Meramec campus in 2002. “Taurus,” by Tony Cragg, was installed at the Florissant Valley campus in 2004.

About Jim Dine
Jim Dine is an American pop artist. He is represented at St. Louis’ Citygarden with his “Big White Gloves, Big Four Wheels” sculpture, depicting Pinnochio. His work can be found in museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Saint Louis Art Museum; the Montreal Museum of Art, Quebec, Canada; the Moderna Musset, Stockholm, Sweden; and the Western Australian Museum, Perth, Australia. His work has also been exhibited in more than 100 solo exhibitions in galleries and museums, such as the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Gallery Beaubourg, Paris, France; and Wildenstein, Tokyo, Japan. 

About Peter Walker and Partners
PWP is an award-winning landscape architecture firm based in Berkeley, Calif. Its projects can be found all over the United States, as well as in Europe and Asia.