WELCOME CENTER SCULPTURE HIGHLIGHTS, PART 1 In addition to horticultural displays and architectural details throughout, the Welcome Center will feature prominent works of sculpture by major international artists Jaume Plensa, George Segal, Yinka Shonibare CBE, El Anatsui, Alexander Calder and Marshall Fredericks, whose work began Fred Meijer’s passion for collecting sculpture. Part of the permanent sculpture collection, the placement of these works and horticultural elements reflects our mission as evidenced throughout the Gardens & Sculpture Park. Read on to learn more about a few of the newly placed sculptures and the artists who created them.
EL ANATSUI. NEW WORLD MAP, 2009. El Anatsui was born in a small town on the coast of Ghana. His father was a Kente cloth weaver, the traditional West African fabric. During the 1960s, when Anatsui was studying art at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, the country achieved independence. In 1975, he moved to Nsukka, Nigeria to assume a teaching position at the University of Nigeria. Now retired from teaching, Anatsui still lives and works in Nsukka. He is now considered one of the most important living artists from the African continent. El Anatsui’s art is steeped in the traditions of West Africa, including signs and symbols derived from Akan people in Ghana and Igbo in Nigeria. He has incorporated African design into sculptures made from wood, clay or fabric. In the past two decades, he used metal, especially aluminum bottle caps from liquor bottles, to create sumptuous wall hangings such as New World Map, a work that we acquired specifically for the Welcome Center. Although it refers to a map in its title, New World Map is not a specific geographic space. This sculpture is vibrant with color and texture as it expands and contracts across the surface. 6
SCULPTURE HIGHLIGHTS
KIRSTIN VOLKENING
