The Journey Begins

As a college student money is tight most of the time, and with a down turn in the economy it has become even more important to curb my spending. People always talk about college students' spring break trips and the crazy amount of money spent on excursions to all the corners of the globe. Unfortunately, I am not able to afford these pricy vacations and I began to think about what I could do to experience culture in my own backyard. As I researched my community and university, I came upon the University Museums website and learned just how important they really are. The most impressive thing about the museums on campus is their collection of public artwork. Iowa State University has the largest collection of public works of art of any university in the United States! This fact shocked me and truly made me think... why do I have to take an airplane to see great art? Do I really need to spend a fortune to experience fine art and culture? The answer I came to was absolutely not! Not until I came to this realization did I feel I had something worthy of blogging about. This blog is my journey through 645 pieces of public work on the Iowa State University campus. I will include my opinions, my interpretations, and always a little background research to put the piece in context. Shall we go on a campus tour?



Monday, April 28, 2014

Unlimited Possibilities

Over 25 years ago I rented an art studio in downtown Des Moines. The building has long since been demolished. There were maybe ten other artists renting space there. Some of the other talented artists were Saley Nong who now owns a floral and events business in Des Moines, Sarah Grant who started Sticks furniture store and Doug Shelton who's work I am featuring today, a mural located in Park's Library, titled Unlimited Possibilities.

Doug is a native of Iowa. We met when we were both working at the Des Moines' downtown Younker Department Store. Doug worked as a security guard and I was the manager of the China, Crystal and Silver Department...ancient history! Doug is an accomplished artist who now lives in Arizona but he has done many murals around Iowa, his work is sold through The Olson Larson Gallery in West Des Moines and he is also in the permanent collection of the Des Moines Art Center.
Artist's Comments about Unlimited Possibilities
The title refers to the life of the student as well as the life of the university. In contrast and complementary to the Grant Wood designed murals in the Parks Library which depict mature adults in society, I've focused on student learning activity.
The mural is divided into two sections - on the left is an agricultural setting, and on the right is a classroom setting. This can be viewed as town and country, city and rural, nature and civilization, etc.

Unlimited Possibilities is another fine work of art we can enjoy on campus in the ISU museum collection.


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