SU devotes new Web site to artist Sol LeWitt, ‘Six Curved Walls (Syracuse)’

SU devotes new Web site to artist Sol LeWitt, ‘Six Curved Walls (Syracuse)’May 12, 2005Matthew R. Snydermrsnyder@syr.edu

Syracuse University has launched a Web site devoted to contemporary artist Sol LeWitt ’49. Sponsored by The College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), the site celebrates “Six Curved Walls (Syracuse),” a large outdoor installation that LeWitt recently created for the University. The site also explores his life and legacy. The address is http://sollewitt.syr.edu.

“The relationship between this important work of art and the landscape of Crouse College is beautifully explored and celebrated by this Web site,” says VPA Dean Carole Brzozowski. “As ‘Six Curved Walls’ inspires this campus and the extended community to examine our relationship to our environment, the site is a perfect forum to launch a dialogue and emphasize the importance of art to a community’s development.”

Says Arts and Sciences Dean Cathryn R. Newton, “The College of Arts and Sciences is honored to collaborate with the College of Visual and Performing Arts on this Sol LeWitt Web site. It is our intention for the site to facilitate an ongoing dialogue about LeWitt and how his work provides a powerful context for change.”

Authorized by LeWitt’s manager, the site provides photos, background information and Web links about the artist and “Six Curved Walls (Syracuse).” It also includes video commentary by Chancellor Nancy Cantor, Newton and Brzozowski, Architecture Dean Mark Robbins, Fine Arts Professor Alan Braddock and Light Work Director Jeffrey Hoone.

The Web site was developed by the Office of Electronic Media Communications (EMC): Stu Lisson, executive director; Ursula Zaba, creative director; Amanda Law, Flash developer; Gary Maiorano, videography; Jacqueline Ontano, video editing; and Bob Gerbin, video compression. Rob Enslin of The College of Arts and Sciences served as content writer and project manager.

The installation “Six Curved Walls (Syracuse)” resulted from correspondence between Cantor and LeWitt in August, less than a month after her taking office. What began as an invitation to create a series of small pieces for her inauguration grew into one of LeWitt’s most ambitious permanent installations. Built in 38 days, “Six Curved Walls (Syracuse)” is comprised of six concrete walls, each 12 feet high, that wind across the Crouse College hillside. The University plans to formally unveil the work in the fall.

Standing at the intersection of art and architecture, astride the conceptual and minimalist movements, LeWitt is one of the most prolific American artists of the last half-century. He has produced more than 900 wall drawings, hundreds of paper drawings, numerous two- and three-dimensional structures and a variety of photographs, books, posters and commercial consumer objects.

In addition to “Six Curved Walls (Syracuse),” LeWitt has donated a wall drawing to the Light Work facility, located in the University’s Robert B. Menschel Media Center. He also has a sculpture in front of the James M. Hanley Federal Building in downtown Syracuse.

“Six Curved Walls (Syracuse)” and the Sol LeWitt Web site are part of the “Exploring the Soul of Syracuse” inaugural initiative.