Inside Iowa State
April 2, 1999
Carver art to be unveiled April 15
The ISU community is invited to two events April 15 that feature art honoring former Iowa State student and faculty member George Washington Carver.
Christian Petersen's newly bronzed sculpture of Carver will be dedicated at 11 a.m. in the courtyard between Carver and Beardshear halls. And murals created by visiting Carver artist-in-residence Youssef Asar of Egypt will be unveiled at noon in the east foyer of the Food Sciences Building. The events are part of Veishea and the year-long George Washington Carver All-University Celebration.
The Petersen sculpture, created in plaster in 1949 and later painted, has been cast in bronze by J&M Studios, Minneapolis. The bronze casting was made possible by a $19,000 gift from John and Linda Dasher, Ames. The dedication will include remarks from Carver biographer Peter Burchard, President Martin Jischke, Government of the Student Body President Bryan Burkhardt and the Dashers.
John Dasher is chair of the ISU Foundation board of directors. Both are members of University Museums' Curators Associates, which Linda Dasher chairs.
Petersen was sculptor-in-residence at Iowa State from 1934 to 1955. He admired Carver, Iowa State's first African American student and faculty member, and created a small plaster sculpture seven years after Carver's death.
Asar's work to honor Carver consists of three canvas murals, "Determination," which depicts the adversities Carver overcame; "Appreciation," in which Carver presents his discoveries to Toth, the Egyptian god of science and knowledge; and "Eternity," which honors Carver's efforts to dispel sterotypes of African Americans and bring education to everyone. Two of the three are completed and will be unveiled April 15.
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