Hardin Family Garden opens, displays ‘The Worm,’ other student artwork
Wednesday, January 19, 2011 at 12:45PM By Monica Kreber
kreberm@mytjnow.com
The gardens feature fountains that produce a constant water noise and river walk on cobblestones. The garden project took seven years to plan. Photo by Stephanie Eaton • eatons@mytjnow.comBeyond the tractors, construction workers and rust-colored dirt that occupied the area behind Roddey Apartments, two things stood out to passers-by: the giant silver moon/palmetto tree overlooking the campus, and the black, worm-like object resting next to Johnson Hall.
The silver sculpture is actually a monument that John Stanley, the department chair of fine arts, and associate professor Shaun Cassidy made together. The black sculpture is the first bit of student artwork featured in the garden.
The Hardin Family Gardens, named in honor of the Hardin family, opened just in time for the spring semester.
Senior general studio major Rebecca Hooper, who is responsible for the black sculpture in the garden, calls it “The Worm,” an intended sitting area for students.
“It [the Worm] is almost like a jungle gym,” she said. “You can always find new ways to sit on it and hang out. More than one person can be on it at a time. It’s a lot of fun; I want it to be touched and played with.”
Hooper said last year the sculpture department asked students to come up with some sort of arrangement that could be used in the garden. Hooper first sketched what she thought her sculpture could look like, then she used Photoshop to show how it would appear in person, with people interacting on “The Worm.”
“Starting with when I proposed [the sculpture], I have been working on it for almost a year,” she said.
Winthrop paid for the materials Hooper used to make the sculpture. She said it is made out of steel, and even though it is black now, it is going to be purple by its completion.
“I wanted it to have sparkles, but we could not find the right kind of paint,” she said.
Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Walter Hardin said the garden would be completed by the start of spring semester, and the construction stayed on schedule. The garden is now open to all students on campus.
“The Garden project is going extremely well,” he said. “This planning has been in progress for seven years. It is exciting to see it come to such a neat completion.”
Hardin said in addition to “The Worm” and the monumental piece, he believes the art department plans to add more student artwork to the garden.
“These [the artwork] will change out periodically in a rotation,” he said. “These pieces will be extraordinary student art, and placement here will be something special.”
In addition to the student artwork, there are fountains intended to maintain a water noise throughout the garden, Hardin said. The water features include two water walls, two water curtains and a fountain in the lower end of the garden toward the Johnson lot. There is also a “River Walk” that emulates a walk through a winding river over cobble stones.
“There will be benches made from balusters salvaged from the old Breazeale Hall that once occupied the footprint of the garden,” Hardin said. “We also used architectural pieces salvaged from Peabody in both the West Center and the new DIGS.”
Hardin explained that all the features on Scholars Walk have been planned out: there is a granite diamond in the round section of Scholars Walk that runs down to the new Concourse area under the canopy between the West Center and DIGS.
He said if you were to stand on that diamond and face your toes toward the front of the campus, you can look up slightly to your right to the top of the McBryde building and you will notice that the circular brick pattern matches the pavers in the circle. Then, if you keep your feet aimed toward the front of campus and look 90 degrees to your right through the new Pergola of the garden, and then look 180 degrees to your left at the Music Conservatory, students will notice that even though the entire walk area has been built in stages and phases, everything lines up on the diamond.
“Cool, huh?” he said.
Hardin said the garden will be beneficial to students.
“It is going to be a wonderful, peaceful, relaxing place for students, faculty, staff and visitors to come, sit, contemplate and find one’s self,” he said.
