“Border Crossing” … Luis Jimenez

On August 2, 2010 when I arrived in Ames, I was very nervous because I was very worried about studying as a graduate student raising children without my husband’s help. Even though this is not the first time living in the United States, I felt great responsibility for my graduate study and children at once. When I first came to the United States in 2001, I relied on my husband who takes good care of our family. But this time, my husband stayed for two weeks to help us settle down in Ames. After he left, I was so afraid of being left with my kids. In addition, there was lightning and thunder almost every night since our arrival in Ames. One night, my family experienced a blackout on account of a horrible thunderstorm.  

For several nights, I could not sleep tight because of not only jet lag but also scary weather changes.  On one day, the rain poured and flooded the west areas of Ames. The night before the flood day, I saw dark and sinister clouds spreading all over the sky of Ames. It was a really horrible scene. It looked as if devil spirits were coming down on to Ames. Because of the flood, puddles formed in front of my house and a number of mosquitoes attacked our house.

                                                                            

As I lived in fear for several nights, I had several times to think about going back to my home country. I could not have peace of mind and could not enjoy the natural beauty of Ames.

One day, we were driving around the ISU campus. We found a small lake called Swan Lake Laverne. The lake was beautiful, picturesque and calm, reflecting the shining sun on the surface; it seemed like some shining marbles rolling on the surface of the lake. The beauty captured my heart all at once. When I saw two swans floating on the water, I felt like I was a protagonist in the fairy tale of Swan Lake. We pulled over our car near the lake and had a great time taking pictures together.

After that we started to walk to central campus and suddenly I found out a big beautiful sculpture on the green grass in the middle of the central campus.  It was “Border Crossing”, one of Luis Jimenez’s signature works of art. This artwork gave me a huge impression touching my heart at that time. This sculpture is of a man crossing the border carrying a woman on his shoulders.  The woman holds a crying infant in her arms, sheltering the child from harm.  This sculpture commemorates the huge number of immigrants who travelled across the southwestern border from Mexico into the United State in search of a better life.

Even though I was not one of the immigrants, I came here with the same purpose and had had difficult time to adjust and set up a new life in Ames. I think this is the reason why I felt this artwork so beautiful.

After experiencing such a wonderful moment, peace came filling into my mind and I decided not to come back to my home country. Because of  the Swan Lake Laverne and the sculpture, “ Border Crossing’  in ISU campus, my negative first impression of Ames turned into positive one and I was fully convinced that it is worth living in such a small campus town, Ames.

Today I watch this artwork with different eyes and mind however I still remember the moment when I met this sculpture at the first time.

-  by Sodam Lee

The Moth by Mac Adams, Coover Hall

The bright colored leaves, yellow buses, and passing ISU students make the campus dance. The walking speed of students gets faster and faster as the air gets colder.  Today, I decided to tour the artworks on the ISU campus instead of sitting in front of the desk at my place, despite the tough wind.

The freezing wind bit against my cheek, but an encounter with a beautiful fall scene while walking made me forget the cold of the fall. Whenever I met a beautiful campus scene or artwork I became a photographer.

When I returned to the Design building, I suddenly remembered one of the artworks standing quietly

 across the Design building. Three huge pieces of heavy stones…  It looked like three puzzle pieces

nobody could make sense of until all the pieces fit together.

One day when I had just started the graduate program, I was riding the bus and saw a beautiful white butterfly flying away. The “white butterfly” as I call it, is not really a white butterfly, but empty space forming the shape of butterfly.  This butterfly sculpture gave me a good impression two years ago.

 Today was the first time I stood next to this sculpture to observe its detail.  The white stone has a very beautiful edge with a gray colored pattern on the surface reminding me of moving waves or wind.

I wondered why the artist chose to display a butterfly on our campus. A few questions sparked in my

mind about butterflies which I have answered them below.  

•  How long do butterflies live?

 It depends on the size of the butterfly, the species of the butterfly, where it lives, and what time of year it became an adult. If the butterfly is smaller in size, it will probably not live as long as the large butterfly. Now of course, the size of the butterfly is not going to be the only factor affecting the life-span of a butterfly, but is a major factor.

• What is the average life span of a butterfly?

 It is usually about one month. However, butterflies perched on flowers in our yards will live only about one week.  Tropical Heliconians and Monarchs are the only butterflies that have an average life span of about nine months.

• How do some butterflies survive the cold winter without migrating?

 If the butterfly eggs were laid just before the cold weather, the egg will stay in egg-form until the weather warms up. If the weather starts to turn colder and the adult butterfly does not migrate south, the butterfly will hibernate somewhere until the weather warms up. Because of this, a butterfly could technically live for many months past the average life span, depending on the climate and stage in their life the butterfly is in when winter comes.

The White Butterfly on campus we have now does not consider the weather change. It is always on

 the ISU campus in the winter and summer as a wonderful artwork. The size of this artwork matches

the building right next to it and the gray color pattern on the stone pieces goes with the color of the

 building as well.  

The bottom of the pieces are wide and heavy while the top is narrow and light, making the heavy stones look stable and well-built. I think the gray pattern shows the natural shape of a moving butterfly.  The three different sized stones make the artwork more interesting and attractive. The edges of the stones are well- polished and not too sharp nor too dull.

The sculpture of the butterfly does not impact viewers during the cold weather as people focus on hugging their jackets closer to keep themselves warm from the cold wind. But when the weather lightens up, more people will open their eyes to enjoy the butterfly’s beauty. Despite the cold weather today, the butterfly on our campus still stands in its usual spot reminding us of the beauty of spring that is to come.
- by Sodam Lee