A Brief Tour of Public Art at Brown

As a student at Brown, chances are you spend a fair amount of time outdoors, whether that’s walking to and from class, eating lunch on the Main Green, or getting some work done outside of the SciLi. You’ve probably noticed that there’s a lot of art around campus. In fact, the university has several committees dedicated to public art at Brown. These committees commission or identify art to enrich the campus and select the perfect location for it. Public art is meant to add value to its space—by establishing a connection with a history or tradition, giving students a first-hand way to study art history, or simply visually enhancing a location.If you’ve seen something you like but don’t know anything about or are curious about public art at Brown, here’s a guide to a few pieces around campus thatI’ve passed by many times.

1) You may know it as: TheRock (not to be confused with the Library)

Real Name: Ideedi Pietra (Ideas of Stone), 2006

Cast bronze, grey granite river stone

27' x 11' x 9'

Anonymous loan

Artist:Giuseppe Penone

Location:Main Green, in front of University Hall

Year it came to Brown: 2016

This cast bronze sculpture blends in with the elms that line the perimeter of the green so well that you may not realize it isn’t another tree. Of course, what gives it away is the5,000 lb gray granite river stone carefully nestled within its branches. Penone explains, “a tree is a being that memorializes the feats of its existence in its very form.” Here, the tree acts as a mediator between the weight of the stone and the force of gravity, just as nature carries the burden of mankind and human development.

2) You may know it as: The Tinfoil People

Real Name: Circle Dance, (2010)

Stainless steel 6' x 22'

Anonymous gift

Artist: Tom Friedman

Location: The Walk, WatermanStreet, across from the Building for Environmental Research and Teaching

Year it came to Brown: 2010

In my first year at Brown, discovering this piece while walking home by myself one evening was a bit unnerving, but it has since then become one of my favorite examples of public art on campus. In short, it does what public art is meant to do:meaningfully impact its space. Inspired by Henri Matisse’s La Danse (1910), Tom Friedman’s figures are playful, inviting, and seem to ask passersby to join them—evident by the many times I’ve seen people stop to enter the circle and interact with the group of dancers. Despite being made of stainless steel, the figures look light and capable of movement. I highly recommend taking a detour to see Circle Dance if you need to walk to or from Pembroke Campus.

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3) You may know it as: The Green Thing in front of the Blue Room

Real Name: Reclining Figure No. 2 — Bridge Prop, (1963)

Bronze

Edition of 6, LH513

L. 99"

Artist: Henry Moore

Location: Main Green, in front of Blue Room

Year it came to Brown: 1963

It would be difficult to imagine the Main Green without this semi-abstract bronze sculpture. Renowned sculptor Henry Moore played a crucial role in the development of modernism in the UK, and he is best known for his abstract representations of the human(typically female) body. He divides the body, breaking it into curved shapes that echo the undulating curves of a hilly landscape. For this piece, Moore was inspired by the interconnected parts ofWaterloo Bridge in London. At a university where interdisciplinary connections are emphatically encouraged, a sculpture that evokes images of the human body, the landscape, and a bridge seems like a natural association. Even more, this sculpture invites viewers to engage with it or, as I’ve observed, comfortably lie down.

4) You may know it as: Sand-drip Lady

Real Name: Large Concretised Monument to the Twentieth Century (2007) Bronze

70 ⅞ x 74 ¾ x 27 ½"

Artist: Rebecca Warren

Location: Main Green, nearFriedman Hall

Year it came to Brown: 2021

By placing the statue at the intersection of several paths, students are invited to examine it from several angles. Throughout your day, you can slowly compile a complete view of the work simply by walking to and from different places. Andwith a statue, or more appropriately, a monument, as complicated and ambivalent as this one, it may take more than one glance to understand what it is you’re looking at. I’ve heard many people describe it as a“large bronze walking sand-drip castle.” It is vaguely humanoid, definitely female due to its curves, but distorted and coarse. Explaining her work, Rebecca Warren says, “I want them to look like they'd been made by a sort of pervy, middle-aged provincial art teacher who'd taken me over.” Warren is making a statement about gender in the 20th century, and by situating it in a central location here on campus, she asks us to continue the conversation. It will only be here until 2026, so make sure you appreciate it before it’s gone!

5) You may know it as: Why is the glass on that pedestrian bridge broken?

Real Name: Lines of Sight, (2006)

Etching, engraved, and cut glass and double-pane windows

1900 sq. ft.

Artist: Diane Samuels

Location: Sidney E. Frank Hall for Life Sciences, pedestrian bridge

Year it came to Brown: 2006

For years, I’ve walked under this bridge and wondered whether the glass was meant to look this way. While it may seem as though someone snuck into the building and smashed all of the windows, it actually is a very intricate visual collage. The work is composed of over 600,000cut glass pieces sandwiched between two large panes of glass. Some of the pieces are made of magnifying lenses or mirrors and others have lines of poetry or prose etched into their surfaces. Placed in the science building, Diane Samuels intended for it to mirror the scientific process of varying one’s scale of focus—moving seamlessly from the micro to the macro. While observable from outside, this piece may warrant a detour through the building.