Best of: art installations around campus

Walking around a college campus after pulling an all nighter and chugging a Red Bull isn’t the most glamorous walk to class. However, the art installations adorning Chapman students' pathways make the trek a bit more bearable, even while sulking through finals week. 

With so much art at Chapman, The Panther has broken down some of the must-see pieces of art and architecture on campus. 

#1: Berlin Wall

The graffiti on Chapman’s fragment of the Berlin Wall stands as a stark reminder of the rebellion against division in Germany. EMILY PARIS, Staff Photographer

If you were thinking of going to Berlin this summer to soak up all the rich history, but you're still working with a college student budget, Chapman has you covered. President Emeritus Jim Doti helped bring a piece of the Berlin Wall to Chapman in 1997 by contacting the mayor of Berlin.

The piece is adorned with graffiti, an ingrained memory of the Berliners' unrest during the Cold War due to the division the wall brought their country. Viewers can closely examine the historic relic on the edge of the pond it’s perched in, which makes for an ethereal experience as the shadow of the wall is cast on the water in the springtime sun.

If there’s time between classes, a custom-designed chair by Richard Turner is set just in front of the wall so onlookers can relax and appreciate the unity that the wall represents. The monument is backed by pink flowered trees that reach full bloom in spring, further adding to the symbolism of renewal and rebirth emphasized through the wall’s initial deconstruction.

#2: Anti-Mexican History of Orange County

Students in Chapman’s Leatherby Libraries can take a study break and stroll over to the Hall of Art to absorb the intense imagery of Orange’s anti-Mexican history. The Panther Archives

The bright and colorful paintings hanging along the first floor of the Leatherby Libraries, also known as the Hall of Art, tell a much more harrowing story than the average passerby might assume. These works of art were created by Santa Ana Valley High School students, who have learned about Orange County’s history of racism in their ethnic studies class, according to the plaque hung beside the paintings. 

“This exhibit depicts the struggles people of color had and continue to endure in Orange County, including immigration, housing and police abuse,” the plaque reads. 

One of the red and yellow themed paintings contains an Immigration and Customs Enforcement  agent, a caution sign featuring graduates running and a woman holding a sign that reads, “Illegal Aliens = Criminals." In this one painting, the students were able to encapsulate the brutality immigrants in the U.S. go through upon their arrival to the country.

Another picture depicts a man in China Town surrounded by white people holding torches. Unfortunately, this imagery speaks to the very true nature of racism that prevails in the U.S.

Whether it’s to revere or to rebuke, students can locate Chapman’s statue of 16th U.S. President Abraham Linicoln just past Liberty Plaza. EMILY PARIS, Staff Photographer

#3: Abraham Lincoln Statue

With quite a few celebrity encounters at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts master classes, students can even come into close contact with well-known figures on their stroll to their next class — the statue versions of them, that is. 

There’s a bust of Alexander Hamilton, if you're still saving up to see the musical, and even a bust of Mozart if Vienna isn’t in your summer plans. The new addition to Chapman’s statue collection is Abraham Lincoln. 

This year Chapman University decided upon a full length statue of Lincoln, due to the founder of the university deliberately opening Chapman on the same day as Lincoln’s inauguration in 1861. This act paid tribute to the founder’s stance on equality as the U.S. was facing a Civil War in its near future. 

Though some members of the Chapman community may look to the monument in admiration, others pass by in resentment. Opponents of the late president point to his mass executions of Native American individuals as contradictory to the principles of racial equity he sought to achieve in signing the 13th Amendment. 

Controversy surrounding statues of Lincoln have emerged at other universities across the country, such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Minnesota State University. Whether it’s to revere or to rebuke, students can locate Lincoln just past Liberty Plaza. 

#4: Huell Howser Found Art Collection

Is it a coffee table or copper condenser coil? With artist Huell Howser’s Found Art Collection, located under the basement stairs of Leatherby Libraries, the two merge together. EMILY PARIS, Staff Photographer

You know that furniture Chapman keeps under their basement stairs in the Leatherby Libraries? Turns out it’s actually art. 

Huell Howser, the artist, takes industrial pieces and revamps them into furniture, hence the rugged steel look, according to Natalie Lawler, Assistant Collections Registrar and Preparator — which is found on a plaque next to the installation. 

Found art refers to taking pieces out of their context and using them to create art. In this case, Howser took remnants of a glass-making process and made them into red rocks. These rocks sit on a coffee table made from “a copper condenser coil”, adorne with iron legs and topped with a glass table top, according to Lawler. 

Although at first glance it looks like some furniture Chapman stored in plain sight, upon closer inspection, Howser’s art pieces are intricate and each piece of furniture is more than what people believe it to be. His chair is a piece of spiralized iron, and a glass tower is filled with string lights to illuminate the scene. 

Howser’s out-of-context pieces are given a new context in the library basement, inviting students to explore this found art world on their way out of class. 

#5: Marion Halfacre Fountain

Marion Halfacre Fountain is the perfect place to garner some spiritual inspiration and will power from the peaceful water trickle to get that assignment done. EMILY PARIS, Staff Photographer

Even when weighed down by the workload of finals, students can rely on the Marion Halfacre Fountain in the Attallah Piazza to keep springing up. The structure consists of four, rocky pillars — which, at night, are illuminated by red lights to highlight the big bursts of water shooting up to the stars. Each rock bears a word on it — intellectual, physical, social and spiritual, respectively — which is then followed by a corresponding verse of poetry.

Although the fountain stands for Chapman’s principles, it also acts as a centerpiece for students studying in the spring sun and is home to the annual Candle Lighting Ceremony, where parents say goodbye to their moved-in college kids at orientation. Grab a seat on one of the rocks by the fountain for a sprinkling of mist from dogs bounding through the water or simply for white noise to perfectly accompany a study session.