New Sculpture Invites DePauw Community to 'Make a Wish on the Sky'

August 25, 2004

August 25, 2004, Greencastle, Ind. - DePauw University's beautiful campus has an added visual attraction this fall. A new sculpture by Narihiro Uemura, Make a Wish on the Sky, has been installed in a site selected by the artist, behind the F.W. Olin Biological Sciences building and adjacent to the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house. Nari Uemura, who resides in Japan, was Lee G. Hall Distinguished Visiting Artist in Residence at DePauw from October 2-10, 2003, and was invited to campus by Dale Enochs, who was Lee G. Hall Distinguished Visiting Professor of Art last fall.

The sculpture is made of limestone and is in two pieces: one depicts hands reaching toward the sky, the other a boat. "The sculpture relates to Uemura's feelings of alienation, or 'falling out of the boat,' as it were, upon his first visit to the U.S. -- hence the boat form," notes Kaytie Johnson, director and curator of University Galleries, Museums and Collections. "The fact that he is from Japan, a country surrounded by water, compounded these feelings."

Make a Wish on the Sky is a new addition to DePauw's permanent art collection. Nancy Bowen, Lee G. Hall Distinguished Visiting Professor of Sculpture in the spring of 2003, designed and constructed the Butler Sculpture Garden on the southeast side of the Peeler Art Center.

"Each sculptural work on campus inspires us all and invites us to reflect," says Neal B. Abraham, executive vice president of the University, vice president for academic affairs, and dean of the faculty. "We are particularly grateful to have the work of Narihiro Uemura which provides a physical connection of the traditional Indiana limestone famed as a sculptural and building material to our long and valuable ties to Japan and Japanese culture -- from international exchange students, graduates and trustees, to museum collections, Winter Term trips, Japanese language instruction, and Asian Studies. As the sculpture program continues to grow with our first tenure-track appointee in sculpture, Assistant Professor Lori Miles, we can expect many more sculptures to enrich the campus thanks to students, faculty members and visitors."