Patrick Dougherty's installation of saplings on the Front Green was supposed to be on view for only a year, but it has lasted for a year and a half. But after an elm tree fell on the sculpture last weekend, the University is finally considering taking it down.
"It was very upsetting, both for the beautiful elm and the piece," said Professor of Visual Art Richard Fishman. "It was quite a shock."
The piece was installed in the fall of 2006. Fishman, who is on a subcommittee that plans public art on campus, said the University now plans to take down the broken pieces of the installation, which was set up in the fall of 2006, to see if parts of it can be salvaged.
Dougherty said that his installations are designed to last for about two years. "Nature often takes them back," he said, noting that other pieces have been destroyed by excessive snow, trees falling on them and the sculptures themselves drying out.
He said he thinks that after the installations begin falling apart, it is necessary to take down the broken pieces. "They still need to look good," he said.
Public art on campus is planned by a committee of faculty and staff. Members of the committee include Fishman, David Winton Bell Gallery Director Jo-Ann Conklin, President Ruth Simmons, University Curator Robert Emlen and Professor of History of Art and Architecture Dietrich Neumann.
Fishman said that even before the elm fell, he had been receiving heartfelt e-mails from students and community members praising the installation.
"We didn't realize that it would have such a strong presence," Fishman said. Dougherty called the e-mails a "true compliment," adding, "I think it is one of my better pieces."
Steven Aguiar '11 said he enjoyed the installation. "I thought it added personality to the Quiet Green," he said.
"I definitely like it, but I haven't seen it recently," said Jennifer Chung '11. "I think it would be great if they could preserve it. I remember being impressed with it at orientation."
The elm tree has a long history on campus. Raymond Butti, senior library specialist on scholarly resources and archives, said University archives have in-depth information on the national epidemic of the Dutch elm disease, which was brought over to the United State from Europe in the late 1920s and had ravaged the population of Dutch elms by the early 1970s. He said that strong hurricanes in 1938 and 1954 also had an effect on the elm tree population on campus.
The elms that are now on campus were memorialized at just about the same time the Dougherty installation was put up. Fishman used a cross-section of an actual elm tree that fell in front of the Watson Institute for International Studies to cast elm sculptures as part of the Elm Tree Project, in which a bronze bench will be installed on the Walk. Additionally, great care was taken during construction of the Watson Center to preserve the elm that stands at its Thayer Street entrance.
Fishman said Simmons was responsible for bringing Dougherty's work to campus. Simmons saw Dougherty's work when she was president of Smith College, Fishman said, and was impressed by it.
Fishman said the subcommittee is currently focusing on artwork in new campus buildings and does not have a new sculpture scheduled.
