Meadows Museum unveils new plaza

The Meadows Museum reopened its redesigned plaza and sculpture garden - including its iconic Wave installation - with a dedication ceremony Oct. 7. The celebration included the unveiling of a major new acquisition, Sho, a monumental sculpture by Catalán artist Jaume Plensa.

The dedication launched a celebration of the Elizabeth Meadows Sculpture Collection with the exhibition "Face and Form: Modern and Contemporary Sculpture in the Meadows Collection." The new plaza features a permanent installation of monumental sculpture from the Elizabeth Meadows Collection and the Meadows Museum by artists such as Jacques Lipchitz, Henry Moore, Isamu Noguchi, and Claes Oldenburg.

The plaza's centerpiece is Sho, acquired in summer 2009 through gifts from The Eugene McDermott Foundation, Nancy and Jake Hamon, The Meadows Foundation, The Pollock Foundation, the family of Mr. and Mrs. Richard R. Pollock and the family of Mr. Lawrence S. Pollock III.

Santiago Calatrava's Wave, already a fixture of the plaza's southwest corner, can now be viewed from above from a terrace donated by Richard and Gwen Irwin in honor of his parents, William and Florence Irwin. A staircase, which can be approached from each side, helps integrate the plaza with the rest of the campus, while a new fountain at its foot greets museum visitors.

The museum also features two exhibitions that illustrate the processes used by Plensa and Calatrava in the creation of Sho and Wave. The displays in the downstairs galleries include drawings, watercolors, photographs and other materials highlighting both the creative and construction processes involved.