PNC 17th Odyssey Sculpture Show Debuts

PNC-17th-Odyssey-Sculpture-Show-Debuts-01Purdue University North Central will celebrate opening of its 17th Odyssey Arts and Cultural Events Series with a public reception and opening of its multi-piece contemporary sculpture exhibit on Saturday, Nov. 7 in the Library-Student-Faculty Building Assembly Hall, Room 02.

The Odyssey 2015– 2016 exhibit includes eight new pieces bringing the total to 43 sculptures that grace the 269-acre PNC Westville campus and PNC – Porter County, 600 Vale Park Road in Valparaiso.

Guests are welcome to arrive early to take a self-guided tour of the sculptures located throughout the PNC Westville campus.

The opening will begin at 5 p.m. with refreshments. The program will begin at 5:30 with welcoming remarks from PNC Chancellor Dr. James B. Dworkin. Judy Jacobi, PNC assistant vice chancellor of Marketing and Campus Relations, will introduce the new exhibiting sculptors and artists, who will be on hand to discuss their works.

Dworkin will also be honored for his continuing support for the Odyssey series through his 15 years as PNC chancellor.

Following the Odyssey opening activities, from 6:30 to 7 p.m., guests are welcome to view the art on display at PNC. That includes the artwork of noted 20th century artist, George Sugarman which is located in the Library Odyssey Gallery on the second floor of the LSF Building. This collection includes sculptures, a variety of framed paintings, a tribute wall of 35 framed works, a montage of photographs depicting the artist and his biography. The library, usually closed on Saturdays, will be open from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Guests may view "The Zhou Brothers Exhibit," a collection of paintings, sculptures and terragraphs in the Library-Student-Faculty Building, Room 02. This collection was recently donated to Purdue North Central by Dr. Eugene D. and Dorothy A. Van Hove, of Carmel, Ind. It includes mixed media paintings, two sculptures and terragraphs displayed under glass.

Also open to the public is the exhibit, “An Outsider Looks In,” a collection of mixed-media paintings and sculpture by Thomas Olesker, in the Library-Student-Faulty Building student lounge, Room 062.

PNC-17th-Odyssey-Sculpture-Show-Debuts-02The exhibit “People and Places – Places and People,” featuring the work of photographer John Horwitz, is on display in the first floor north study area of the PNC Technology Building.

PNC is the permanent home of a section of a steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center in New York after its Sept. 11, 2001 collapse and is on display in the LSF Cybercafé, Room 114, off the first floor foyer.

The steel is displayed near the oil paintings of Jason Poteet, which includes a series named, “New York, New York,” created in tribute to the victims of Sept. 11, the rescue workers and the residents of New York City.

“Each year the Odyssey sculpture exhibit brings a breathtaking array of art to the campus,” said Jacobi, who has been the driving force behind the Odyssey Arts and Cultural Events Series since its inception. “I am extremely proud that the Odyssey series continues to be the largest outdoor art installation in our area and is one of the premier art installations in Indiana and lower Michigan. It has gained a tremendous reputation through the year and attracts visits from across the county. I invite the public to come to the Purdue North Central campus and spend some time with our sculptures.”

The Odyssey Cultural Series includes a number of events throughout the year, including exhibits of art, film showings and presentations.

Sculptors who will debut works as part of Odyssey 2015 – 2016 are:
Radiating by Ruth Aizuss Migdal. This sculpture measures 9 feet high by three feet wide and five feet deep. Created over a five-year period, it radiates the power of a prehistoric female goddess. It is made of bronze and gilded gold to be shiny forever to radiate the extreme power of being a woman.

Tales from the Woods by Christine Perri. This multi-piece installation is a collection of carved wood sculpture and paper objects that collectively express the origins of story-telling, fittingly positioned both inside and outside the PNC library. The outdoor sculpture installation, named Planter, is a carved wood sculpture that is six feet long. A sculpture located in the library features two carved wood sculptures, discarded library books, small painted logs and branches on a raised platform.

The Illustrated Facts of Global Warming: SUNK by Ken Thompson. This steel structure is 15.6 feet high, 9 feet wide and 9 feet deep. With polar caps melting, ocean levels rising, summers getting hotter and winters warmer, the earth is developing “super-storms.” This sculpture is presented in sympathy with the thousands of people affected by super-storm Sandy's relentless devastation.

Thin Series: Off the Diet 3 by Ken Thompson. Thompson has a second sculpture that is made of steel, stainless steel and granite. This sculpture is 6 feet by 3 feet by 1.5 feet and concentrates on the fundamental issues of form and how negative space defines it using multiple “cut-out” pieces.

PNC-17th-Odyssey-Sculpture-Show-Debuts-03Ascension by Ray Katz. This sculpture of painted, bolted aluminum measures 13 feet high by 13 feet wide by 16.3 feet deep. Its implied energy is a metaphor for an evolutionary process associated with human experience. Through the creative process, elements become symbols of the shared transcendental experience and the experiences of life’s journey.

A trophy by Richard Kiebdaj. This high-solid polyurethane painted steel sculpture depicts frogs and other reptilian forms that have permeable skins and are susceptible to environmental changes, in this case, for the worse. The artist coveys that changes in the environment should not be ignored so that “we are not dancing ourselves into extinction.” The sculpture is 10 feet tall and sits on a 3 foot by 3 foot base.

Bird in a Tree (Cardinal on a Hashtag) by John Habela. This painted steel sculpture is an Indiana Bicentennial Legacy Project. It represents the journey Indiana has taken into the 20th century depicting the cardinal as Indiana’s majestic state bird, the hashtag a most recognizable icon of the current era and the tree representing the growth of Indiana for the past 200 years. The 2016 Indiana Bicentennial Commission has endorsed this sculpture as an Indiana Bicentennial Legacy Project.

Four Georgia by Barry Tinsley. This four-piece work is composed of steel, granite, ceramic, bronze and limestone. These pieces each represent four cities visited by Tinsley during a sculpture symposium in 1991 - Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Rustavig and Kakheti. They measure 5.5 feet by 7 feet by 7.5 feet.

The Odyssey sculpture exhibit is open to the public during university hours. Visitors are encouraged to come on Thursdays, Fridays and weekends when parking is ample.

Information on group tours is available by contacting Judy Jacobi, assistant vice chancellor of Marketing and Campus Relations at 219-785- 5593. Persons with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Jacobi.