Tag: art on campus

I am always surprised by how many people still think of ‘business’ as comprised of inherently un-creative activities, like sorting, counting and allocating resources well (confession: I used to be one of those people several years ago). But as it turns out, wherever there is high-level decision-making, there is creative exercise.

In art and business, being creative means drawing on one’s insight in a way that leads to strong decisions, whether in the boardroom or on canvas. And the way to get better at creative decision-making? Practice!

The Olin Women in Business club (OWIB) did just that on Saturday, October 25, when it hosted a brunch and painting party. After filling up on delicious, home-made breads and waffles, we drew some inspiration from the works of Mark Rothko, Helen Frankenthaler and Joan Mitchell. Then we all tried our hand at abstract acrylic painting. Not only did we muse on the different ways in which we each approached a blank canvas, but we also had a lot of fun.

Check out how creative our MBAs are!

Thank you to Annicka Webster, Kimberly Holden, Stephanie Meldrum and OWIB for organizing. I had a great time as artistic lead.

Spanish artist Jaume Plensa was sharing photos of his work on display around the world to an audience gathered in Emerson Auditorium to celebrate the installation of his sculpture Ainsa I at Olin, Oct. 1. From his towering video portraits that spew water on delighted visitors to Chicago’s Crown Fountain in Millennium Park, to large scale sculptures made in a variety of materials from stainless steel to stone and wood, Plensa’s work is elegant and mysterious from a distance like a Siren’s song. Up close, it invites dialogue and interaction. The artist even encourages people to get inside his art – literally- when they can. “I always say, ‘Don’t touch! Caress the sculpture!’ Plensa told the Olin audience.

He was on campus for the first time to see Ainsa I, located on Boles Plaza at the entrance to the Atrium. “I was really proud when I saw it today,” Plensa said. “Scale is the important thing and it fits here. The building is protecting my piece, wrapping its arms around it.”

The large-scale seated human figure made of a filigree of stainless steel letters from nine different alphabets represents the inaugural commission for Art on Campus, a percent-for-art program that establishes a significant presence for public art on the Danforth Campus.

Thanks to a generous donation from alumni Gil, BSBA’66, and Marty, AB’66, Bickel, Jaume Plensa’s sculpture will welcome many generations of students and visitors to Olin.

The nine alphabets represent 70% of the languages spoken in the world.

The name of the work, Ainsa, comes a medieval town in the Argonese Pyrenees in Spain where the limestone base for the sculpture originated.

Photos: Jerry Naunheim

Jaume Plensa discusses his work and its message in this video. Videographer: Tucker Pierce, BFA’15.

After months of planning and anxious waiting, a sculpture by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa arrives today and will be installed at the Mudd Field entrance to the Atrium of Knight Hall and Bauer Hall.

Ainsa I is a large-scale seated human figure comprised of a filigree of stainless steel letters from nine different alphabets. Plensa’s work embodies the diversity that characterizes Olin and the University at large. It also transforms the experience of its site, offering both a new focal point and a transition between human and architectural scale, while calling attention to the essentially communal nature of the building plaza.

Ainsa I represents the inaugural commission for Art on Campus, a percent-for-art program that establishes a significant presence for public art at Washington University while it builds on the University’s world-class collection of art. Created in 2010, Art on Campus commissions art in connection with new construction and renovation projects across the Danforth Campus and at select University-owned off-campus locations.

Image credit

Jaume Plensa, Ainsa I, 2013. Stainless steel and limestone, 126 x 84 5/8 x 149 5/8″. Installation view, Jaume Plensa à Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, 2013. Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis. University purchase, Art on Campus fund, Olin Business School, 2013. © Jaume Plensa, courtesy of Galerie Lelong, New York. Photo by Thomas Sanson, © Ville de Bordeaux.