JonBarlow Hudson's newest installation resides at Ohio University in Athens. (Submitted photo)
Yellow Springs sculptor Jon Barlow Hudson installs newest work
- Published: December 14, 2023
A major stainless steel sculpture by Yellow Springs-based sculptor Jon Barlow Hudson has been installed outside Ohio University’s Clippinger Chemistry Lab, which is being renovated.
Entitled “EIDOLON:NATURE,” the work is 27 feet high by 16 feet in diameter. It was built at Budde Sheet Metal in Dayton. Laser etchings of scientific formulas on the base of the sculpture, chalk written on a piece of slate blackboard from Antioch Science Building, were etched by Laser Imaging in Lebanon, Ohio.
Along with the overall design, a 21-ton, 12-foot-high moraine boulder is also part of the project. The boulder, which came from the Barrett Quarry, just north of Fairborn, having been brought down from Canada by the glaciers millennia ago, spent several months on Yellow Springs village property outside Cresco Labs and was visible by drivers along Dayton-Yellow Springs Road.
The stainless steel of the sculpture is a metaphorical reference to chemistry, physics, mathematics and astronomy primarily, with OU’s geology and geography departments being referenced by the glacial moraine boulder, according to a press release about the project.
The landscaping around the sculpture was designed by Roger Beal, also of Yellow Springs, who has created designs for many projects in Ohio and around the country. The landscaping focus is a stone dry stream bed motif, with stones from around the country and indigenous plantings.
The Ohio Arts Council selected Hudson and Beal’s proposal from a field of hundreds of applicants to create the Ohio University sculpture.
The project’s commission was funded by the state’s “Percent for Art” program, which provides funds for acquisition, commissioning and installation of works of art for new or renovated public buildings with appropriations of more than $4 million. The amount allocated for art is 1% of the total appropriation
Hudson has created numerous large-scale public sculptures throughout Ohio, across the U.S. and in 27 other countries, with 24 such projects in China alone. He received his BFA from the Dayton Art Institute, along with a BFA and MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California.
2 Responses to “Yellow Springs sculptor Jon Barlow Hudson installs newest work”
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Why no pictures but the one?!
Wonderful! It would also look nice on the grounds of a potato farm.