Save Outdoor Sculpture!

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The SOS! Logo Save Outdoor Sculpture! (logo).jpg
The SOS! Logo

Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!) was a community-based effort to identify, document, and conserve outdoor sculpture in the United States. [1] [2] The program was initiated in 1989 and ended in 1999. [3] [4]

Contents

History

Story Monument displayed in Story, Indiana and included in the Save Outdoor Sculpture! survey Story, Indiana Monument.jpg
Story Monument displayed in Story, Indiana and included in the Save Outdoor Sculpture! survey

Save Outdoor Sculpture! was initiated by Heritage Preservation: The National Institute of Conservation in 1989. [3] As of 1998, volunteers had cataloged and assessed the condition of over 30,000 outdoor statues and monuments. [5]

The Smithsonian Museum of American Art became an active partner in the SOS! project, making SOS! material available online as part of the Inventory of American Sculpture at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. [6] "Some of the most-requested materials" are available via the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation. [7] Other records and resources for SOS!, including the Heritage Preservation website, including the public art guidance "Designing Outdoor Sculpture Today for Tomorrow", and "Mural Creation Best Practices", were accessioned by and are made accessible by the Smithsonian Institution Archives. [8] [9] [10]

In the 1990s, the organization funded a Cleveland Sculpture Center effort to inventory and preserve 36 sculptures in Ohio. [11]

Educational programs

A primary objective of SOS! is to educate and create a number of programs for children. For example, SOS! has partnered with the Girl Scouts of the USA to create a Girl Scout patch [12] [13] for scouts who participate in the project.

Related Research Articles

The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), located in Los Angeles, California, is a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust. It is headquartered at the Getty Center but also has facilities at the Getty Villa, and commenced operation in 1985. The GCI is a private international research institution dedicated to advancing conservation practice through the creation and delivery of knowledge. It "serves the conservation community through scientific research, education and training, model field projects, and the dissemination of the results of both its own work and the work of others in the field" and "adheres to the principles that guide the work of the Getty Trust: service, philanthropy, teaching, and access." GCI has activities in both art conservation and architectural conservation.

<i>Eve</i> (Davidson) 1931 sculpture by Davidson

Eve is an outdoor sculpture of the biblical Eve created by Robert William Davidson in 1931. It is currently located in a fountain at Ball Nurses' Sunken Garden and Convalescent Park on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). The overall dimensions of this bronze sculpture are 5’ tall, 2’ long, and 1’ wide.

<i>East Gate/West Gate</i>

East Gate/West Gate, a public sculpture by Sasson Soffer, is located on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus, which is near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. This sculpture is on loan from the Indianapolis Museum of Art and was installed on campus on March 22, 2009. It was transported from the Indianapolis Museum of Art to its current location, in front of University Library, from the Indianapolis Museum of Art via helicopter. East Gate/West Gate was constructed in 1973 and consists of stainless steel pipe. Its dimensions are 24'x 40'x 30' and weighs 840 lbs.

<i>Give and Take</i> (Smith)

Give and Take, a sculpture by American artist Michael Smith, is located on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. It is situated on New York Street in front of the Herron School of Art and Design. The sculpture was made in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis Public Art Collection</span> University art collection


The IUPUI Public Art Collection, located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, consists of more than 30 works of sculpture located outdoors on the campus of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. IUPUI is a public shared campus of Indiana University and Purdue University that was created in 1969. More than 30,000 students attend IUPUI today and view the sculptures as they walk, bicycle, and drive around the campus.

<i>Two Open Rectangles, Excentric, Variation VI</i>

Two Open Rectangles, Excentric, Variation VI, is a public artwork by American artist George Rickey, located on the Middlebury College campus, outside of the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Building, in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. This kinetic sculpture of stainless steel consists of two rotating open rectangles attached with bearings on a u-shaped mount on an upright arm in a steel base. It measures approximately 12 feet high by 3 feet wide.

<i>Frisbee</i> (sculpture) Public artwork in Middlebury, Vermont, USA

Frisbee, is a public artwork by American artist Patrick Villiers Farrow, located on the Middlebury College campus center green, in front of Munroe Hall in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. The overall dimensions of this bronze sculpture are 68 inches (170 cm) tall, 28 inches (71 cm) long, and 36 inches (91 cm) wide. It is attached to an underground concrete foundation. The sculpture was cast by Agros Art Casting Foundry, Brewster, New York and dedicated in 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Willard Memorial</span>

The Emma Hart Willard Memorial, is a public artwork designed by Marion Guild and Pierre Zwick. It was sculpted by T.A. Campbell who worked for the Houlihan Shop in Rutland, Vermont. Erected in 1941, the memorial is located in a triangular-shaped park at the intersection of route 30 and route 7 in downtown Middlebury, Vermont.

The Indiana Statehouse Public Art Collection, located in Indianapolis, Indiana, consists of more than 40 public artworks that are on display inside and around the grounds of Indiana Statehouse and the Indiana Government Center North and Indiana Government Center South.

Heritage Preservation was an American non-profit organization. Its mission was to preserve the nation's heritage for future generations through innovative leadership, education, and programs. As of June 30, 2015 the organization was dissolved by its board. Several of its programs and resources have been absorbed by the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation. "Records that document the history and activities of Heritage Preservation from its very beginnings as the National Conservation Advisory Council and the National Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Property", including an archive of its website, were accessioned by and are made accessible by the Smithsonian Institution Archives.

<i>Middlebury to Her Soldiers</i>

Middlebury to Her Soldiers is a public artwork by American artists Marshall Jones and Seward Jones, located on the triangle between Merchant's Row and South Pleasant Street in Middlebury, VT, United States of America. It was fabricated by the Jones Brothers Company of Barre, VT. The granite sculpture consists of a figure in a Civil War uniform holding a flag in his proper right arm standing atop a multi-layered granite pedestal. Figures depicting an artilleryman, a cavalryman, a marine, and an infantryman stand at the four corners of the pedestal's central section.

References

  1. "Sculpture". 1992.
  2. "Vernacular Architecture Newsletter". 1991.
  3. 1 2 "Save Outdoor Sculpture!: A Community-Based Conservation Program, Getty Conservation Institute Newsletter 22.2 (Summer 2007)" . Retrieved 2009-12-10.
  4. "Save Outdoor Sculpture! | Smithsonian American Art Museum".
  5. McRae, Linda; White, Lynda S. (1998). ArtMARC Sourcebook: Cataloging Art, Architecture, and Their Visual Images. ISBN   9780838907238.
  6. "The Inventory is part of the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System" . Retrieved 2009-04-25.
  7. "Heritage Preservation". www.culturalheritage.org. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
  8. "Accession 16-097. Heritage Preservation (Organization) Records, 2015". Smithsonian Institution Archives.
  9. "Designing Outdoor Sculpture Today for Tomorrow". Washington, DC: National Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Property. 1996. Archived from the original on December 1, 2015.
  10. "Accession 15-306. Heritage Preservation (Organization) Records, 1973-2014". Smithsonian Institution Archives.
  11. "Sculpture Center's revived database is back online with guide for outdoor-art lovers". 2012-12-28.
  12. "Save Outdoor Sculpture! Girl Scout Patch Program (update)" (PDF). Heritage Preservation . 2000. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2001-06-05. Retrieved 2021-07-12.
  13. "SOS! Girl Scout Patch Program" (PDF). Cultural Heritage. 2000. Retrieved 2021-07-12.