This is the second in a series of segments focused on the public art collection at Texas Tech, the artists who contribute, the university themes reflected in the art and specific pieces located around the Texas Tech University System.
Before the installation of his sculpture 'Agave Dreams' outside the Texas Tech University Biology building, sculptor Julian Voss-Andreae wasn't entirely sure what exact plant the 10-foot tall sculpture would be cradling in its polished steel hands. But on a visit to the campus shortly before the installation, the German-born artist spotted a Texas-native plant on campus - and knew that it would take the task of representing nature in his interactive sculpture.
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"I had no idea until the very und, two weeks before the installation, what plant I would choose," Voss-Andreae said. "So I proposed a piece with a plant, and just drew a generic plant in there – and I’ve never lived in this kind of climate, I’m from northern Germany, so I’m not familiar with that – so when I went, two weeks before the foundation, the concrete was poured, I went to Texas, and in the same area where the sculpture was going to go, there was this small little agave."
The sturdy plant mostly known for its role in the creation of tequila and as a natural sweetener, Voss-Andreae said, is actually a meaningful resource to people native to the southwestern United States.
"I really love the plant, it’s symmetrical, it’s beautiful - and so I started reading about it more," he said. "To the native cultures, all over the southwestern United States, the agave has pretty tremendous meanings. Not only used for tequila and drinks and stuff like that, but also for rope, for baskets, for food; it’s a very important [medicinal] plant, so it’s had a tremendously interesting, rich history. So that’s why I felt immediately drawn to that, aesthetically and conceptually."
More than representing its traditional uses as a jack-of-all-plants, the agave planted within the installation is representative of the relationship nature has shared with mankind.
"The story behind the piece 'Agave Dreams' is about the connection between humans and nature," Voss-Andreae said. "My sense is that we’ve gone a long way from being connected to nature and taking that scientific paradigm way too much to heart. I envision a new spiritual and emotional connection with nature and that’s what the piece is essentially about."
In contrast with the organic roots (pun intended) of the sculpture, the polished steel figure of a kneeling woman is what former physicist Voss-Andreae says is already present in nature - organization - and fuses science and technology with art.
"A solid is kind of a fascinating thing in itself, because it’s a maximally rigid thing you can build," Voss-Andreae said. "That’s why we see it in technology very often, it’s an optimum structure, in a certain sense. In a way, it’s similar to nature, in that respect, but still it looks very, very different, because nature tends to not make those kinds of facets."
Emily Wilkinson, Texas Tech's Public Art Manager, oversaw the commission and installation of the sculpture, and said the sculpture urges viewers to take a closer look, a theme that resonates just outside the Biology building that such areas as Microbiology and Cell and Molecular Biology.
"How I see biology is that plants and the sorts of things in that area are pretty simple things that we see every day. But when we look at them on a molecular level, they are very complex structures - and I kind of see that as a good tie-in with that sculpture," she said.
As calls for climate change are made and being green becomes more and more imperative, Voss-Andreae highlighted the respect due to the relationship between humans and their surroundings.
"I really like how it feels to see a person in this very humble way, kneeling on the earth. So it’s about being very connected to the earth, and having a humble attitude."
