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Towering sculpture survives 'journey'

By Andrew Fritsch
The Daily Cougar

In the hands of most people, aluminum and stainless steel remain cold and lifeless, but Tim Gloveris guiding artistic vision makes simple metal pieces become dynamic symbols of nature and life.

Behrooz Paizi/The Daily Cougar

Glover, an affiliate artist at UH who has been self-employed in Houston since 1986 working in private galleries and on public art commissions, created the free-standing, internally illuminated, massive exterior leaf column and interior hanging leaf mobile at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.

Currently, Glover critiques upper-level junior, senior and graduate work for the sculpture department. He has worked with the Artist in Residence program, which combines the resources of UH and the Buffalo Bayou Art Park to bring artists to Houston to create public artworks, as a foreman on this yearis project with Stephen Siegel. Glover said Siegel works primarily with recycled materials.

Gloveris most recent public artwork, aside from the UH project, has been designing and decorating the Lamar and Preston/McKinney Metro Light Rail stations.

"The artistis scope was to try to integrate space with environment," Glover said.

However, receiving commissions to do public works is difficult, Glover said, because few projects are available and artists must have a quality reputation. "Itis been a long journey to get this project," he said.

Glover has been a finalist for several art projects on various UH campuses, and the commissions were "all or nothing;" only one artist proposed and created artwork.

"UH has wonderful public art and has one of the oldest and best public art collections in Houston," Glover said.

All new buildings and renovations at UH have an art aspect, Glover said, and the Recreation and Wellness Center was no different, but the allocation process of the $345,000 commission was.

"This was the first time UH selected two finalists (a committee that looks through on-file slides from artists makes the selection) to make proposals," Glover said. The other artist was Margo Sawyer from the University of Texas at Austin.

Glover said they were given the chance to make proposals in Fall 2001 and presented them in February 2002.

"Iive done enough of these presentations to know whether or not the audience is interested, and this one was like magic. They really liked it," he said.

"And once the committee decides on the artist, they give him free hand in design," Glover said.

Leaves are a consistent part of Gloveris artistic vocabulary for the past 10 years, and he felt the natural theme was fitting because he equates nature with healing and wellness.

"I wanted to stretch the piece from the exterior to the interior so you could discover a new experience," Glover said.

"Looking at the pieces together, the column can be seen as the male form, and the leaf canopy is female, and these pieces provide the necessary elements for life."

The column, which was moved six times before the placement became final, is completely hollow and made from stainless steel. The double-tapering cones weigh 18,000 pounds and are 51 feet tall and 14 feet in diameter; they are uneven, to give the structure a lively, more organic feel. Also, the leaf cutouts were painted in gold leaf in the same random manner to create natural texture and appearance.

The 1,000-pound, 40-foot aluminum leaf canopy hangs from the ceiling. The leaves are 3-and-a-half to 5 feet in length. The structure influences the lobby through reflection and the subtlety of placement, Glover said.

"I think the piece is constantly going to evolve through the interpretive process, and Iim looking forward to what that teaches me.

"Itis what I wanted to do, and Iim happy with it, but only time will tell what the public thinks about it," Glover said.
 

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