Salina Piece, Dale Eldred

Artwork Overview

Dale Eldred, Salina Piece
Dale Eldred, Salina Piece
Dale Eldred
Salina Piece
1969
Dale Eldred, artist
1933–1993
Salina Piece, 1969
Where object was made: United States
Material/technique: Cor-ten steel; asphaltum paint
Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 10.7 x 7.3 x 10.4 m
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 35 x 24 x 34 ft
Credit line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John M. Simpson
Accession number: 1981.0005
On display: outdoors West Campus south of KUCR
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Exhibition Label: "Site Specifics,” Aug-2010, Susan Earle Dale Eldred’s sculpture Salina Piece is installed on Irving Hill Road on West Campus at the University of Kansas. Weighing 40 tons, the steel sculpture is 35 feet high, 24 feet wide, and 34 feet deep. It stands at a 45-degree angle to the ground and its scale challenges nearby structures, as it appears to defy gravity. We invite you to consult this map to locate the sculpture in order to make it easy for you to go see the sculpture in person. The sculpture was originally “sited” for a seven-acre piece of land near Salina, Kansas, in 1969. In 1981, the original owners of the sculpture donated the work to the University of Kansas’ Spencer Museum of Art. The work was temporarily installed at 16th and Indiana at the southern end of the KU campus but was moved to West Campus in the midst of controversy over the siting of it in a residential neighborhood. After you go to visit the sculpture in person on west campus, please let us know what you think. Is the controversy still relevant? What do you think of the sculpture today?

Resources

Audio

Audio Tour – Ear for Art
Audio Tour – Ear for Art
Is this work an outcast? Actually, yes. Here’s the story: Mr. and Mrs. John Simpson originally commissioned the work for a seven-acre site near their home in Salina, Kansas. Twelve years later, they donated the work to the Spencer Museum of Art, and, originally there were plans to install it in the grassy triangle of land at 16th and Indiana, on the south side of campus. However, it was moved to its present location when area residents raised safety concerns about placing it in a residential neighborhood. Walk around the work. Look at it from several locations. Would it surprise you to learn that the artist was interested in architecture and astronomy? Like a building, our experience of the work changes with the time of day and season. In bright light, the piece is defined by shadows, whereas at dusk the supports for the structure seem to disappear, creating the illusion of defying gravity. At the same time, the work acts like a giant sundial, casting a shorter or longer shadow depending on whether it’s summer or winter, and early or late in the day. An internationally recognized artist, Eldred has many works installed in public spaces across the United States. He was a teacher at the Kansas City Art Institute for 33 years. Tragically, he died in a fall in his studio during the flood of 1993. Do you think this is a good location for this sculpture?

Links

SEE directions to this sculpture by tapping number 15 on this map