Alumni are finalists in Monroe Park Campus sculpture competition

By Tom Gresham

Two Virginia Commonwealth University alumni are the finalists in a competition to design a sculpture for the Monroe Park Campus commemorating the Richmond Professional Institute, the forebear for VCU.

Photos of the models of the sculptures from Rubin Peacock, who received an MFA in sculpture at VCU in 1970, and Charles Ponticello, who received an MFA in sculpture in 1994, can be viewed online with statements from the artists explaining their respective pieces. The RPI Sculpture Committee, which includes several RPI alumni, will weigh the finalists in early 2007 and decide which work to select. The committee invites members of the public to view the sculptures online and to submit comments for the committee to consider.

The winning sculpture will be sited at the wall in front of Ginter House, formerly the Ad Building, on Franklin Street. The wall was the unanimous choice of the committee for the location of the sculpture because it served as the focal point of activity for RPI students.

“Everyone gathered there,” said William O’Connell, a 1955 RPI graduate. “It was right in the middle of everything. It was the place to be.”

O’Connell, who is a member of the RPI Sculpture Committee, said the sculpture would serve as a prominent physical reminder of RPI’s legacy at VCU. O’Connell said RPI alumni feel a keen connection to VCU, though the school has changed dramatically since RPI merged with the Medical College of Virginia in 1968 to form VCU.

“The idea was to create some lasting object that would let people know that there was a precursor to VCU,” O’Connell said. “It’s a way of letting the current students know about the history of their school. It’s an exciting project for the RPI graduates. It will be a very special thing to have something established on campus that will ensure that RPI is always recognized as being part of the university.”

Joseph Seipel, senior associate dean for academic affairs and director of graduate studies in the School of the Arts, has worked with the RPI Sculpture Committee. He said the committee hoped to find a sculpture that captured the sense of invention, curiosity, excitement and ambition often associated with RPI. The committee and VCU officials worked to attract a large number of submissions because “this is such an important piece,” Seipel said.

Before the committee had narrowed the field to the two finalists, Seipel had speculated that a successful piece would have to employ metaphor. Both Peacock and Ponticello have strong metaphorical elements to their sculptures, though Porticello also uses text in his piece.

Peacock’s piece features two bronze triangular figures that represent RPI and VCU. The triangles are arranged in a way that symbolizes the union between RPI and VCU. In his artist’s statement, Peacock explained he hoped to create a piece that would “convey a sense of historical as well as magical undertones.”

The sculpture “would become a dramatic symbol of the once-famous meeting place of students during the early years of RPI,” Peacock said. “The lines of the sculpture and the incised pattern of lines on the bronze surface bring to mind the continuation of growth and will inspire an uplifting feeling in the viewer.”

Ponticello’s piece, which is titled “Tableith,” consists of 51 cast discs stacked atop each other and spiraling upward. Each disc represents a year in RPI’s life and is inscribed on its edge with significant phrases from the corresponding year at RPI. The base will include a “founder’s stone” with an oval relief in bronze of Henry Hibbs, founder of the Richmond School of Social Economy, which became RPI. Some small stones are laid nearby, Ponticello explained, “as if waiting to be lifted into position for the future years.”

“My primary focus is to produce a monumental effect with a sense of awe and respect rather than a ‘stand out’ personal interpretation with imagery that overcomes the purpose,” Ponticello said.

Comments on the sculpture finalists can be submitted to Diane Stout-Brown, executive director of the VCU Alumni Association, at dstout@vcu.edu.