Note: The following text is from an article in the June 5, 2000 issue of the Vanderbilt Register. Used with permission.

Signature sculpture unveiled

by Amy Pate and Beth Fox

Vanderbilt's primary mission -- the creation and dissemination of knowledge -- has been captured in more than 5 tons of bronze.

Unveiled May 27, artist Greg Wyatt's "The Tree of Learning" has found a home on Library Lawn. The sculpture represents "knowledge and how it is espoused and passed on year after year, decade after decade, century after century," Chancellor Joe B. Wyatt said during the unveiling ceremony.

Approximately 100 people came out for the unveiling, many of them alumni on campus for reunion weekend.

"The Tree of Learning" is the centerpiece of the Garden of Great Ideas, a program that has placed eight sculptures on campus over the past three years. With the exception of "The Tree of Learning" and Wyatt's "The Bill of Rights Eagle," placed in May 1997, all donated sculptures are the work of young artists from the Newington-Cropsey Foundation Academy of Art, which Wyatt directs.

"We believe this is quite an appropriate succession in the life of great art, in the life of a great university," Wyatt said, noting that Cornelius Vanderbilt had been a patron of the Hudson River School of Art that the Newington-Cropsey Foundation is dedicated to preserving.

"The installation of Greg Wyatt's 'The Tree of Learning' at Vanderbilt University, a foundation of learning, offers an appropriate symbolism," said Tom Turk, executive director of the Metro Nashville Arts Commission.

Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell noted that Vanderbilt has been an advocate in the public art arena and has led the way in the placement of public art. "There are moments, frankly, when there need to be leaders," he said. "Vanderbilt University and Chancellor Joe B. Wyatt have been just that and have inspired not just people on this campus but in all our city."

The three trunks of "The Tree of Learning" create an inner sanctum, allowing visitors to enter it. It is also internally lighted at night. The 20-foot sculpture features images of figures, faces and hands worked into the bark, and the leaves and buds of the tree are modeled after Vanderbilt's famed Bicentennial Oak.

"The hands clutching candles are passing the torch of learning," said Judson Newbern, associate vice chancellor for campus planning and construction, prior to the unveiling. "Like the quest for knowledge, what initially seem barren branches require closer observation to reveal the promise of breaking buds that represent the renewing cycle universities go through in passing along knowledge."

The May 27 unveiling was the culmination of a long journey for "The Tree of Learning." Modeled in Wyatt's New York studio, the tree was enlarged, cast and fabricated at Tallix, one of the world's largest foundries dedicated to art fabrication. It was cast in 800 pieces before being welded into three large trunk sections. Those three trunks were brought to campus via two flatbed trucks from Tallix in Beacon, N.Y. The oversize loads could only travel six hours each day. After arriving May 24, the pieces were then assembled on Library Lawn and erected using a crane. The sculpture was then wired for lighting, and the area around it landscaped.

Located in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., the nonprofit Newington-Cropsey Foundation is dedicated to studying, conserving and exhibiting the works of Hudson River School artist Jasper Francis Cropsey. Vanderbilt learned of the Great Ideas program from U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, who saw a presentation by Newington-Cropsey at the U.S. Capitol.

Greg Wyatt is the sculptor-in-residence at New York's Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, where he created the 40-foot-high "Peace Fountain," the first outdoor children's sculpture garden.

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