New Art, Music to be Unveiled, Debut at GSU Fundraiser on Sept. 11

Stargazing 2

For Immediate Release

(University Park, Ill.) Returning after a COVID hiatus, Sculpture, Wine & Dine, the premier fundraising event at Governors State University (GSU), promises to inspire and delight with the debut of new art and original music, as well as a tribute to the 20^th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack.

The new art and jazz composition will be dedicated during a farm-to-table dinner set against a backdrop of stars and an after-dark afterglow party to illuminate the night.

Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park Director and Curator Jeff Stevenson said the event’s new features will elevate guest’s experience.

“We are bringing back everything that we loved about 2019 — the golf cart tours, screenings of the Mark di Suvero documentary, artist meet and greet, dinner in the park, afterglow party—and adding new elements—an art auction, a commissioned musical tribute by Ernest Dawkins, and Rodrigo Lara Zendejas' featured exhibition in the gallery. It will be an action packed event not to be missed!”

A towering new 21-foot tall steel monument, created by Chicago artist Terrence Karpowicz, will be unveiled for SWD guests at the event.

"Stargazing with Contrails," is an emotionally moving tribute to summer on the prairie as it points skyward inviting visitors to follow suit. Paul Krainak describes the piece in thecommunityword as “an orbital sky-map, its focal center cradled obliquely by beams denoting vapor trail channels.”

The generosity of longtime university supporters Paul and Linda Uzureau made “Stargazing with Contrails” possible. Linda Uzureau, a retired GSU administrator, said she and husband Paul, an Advisory Board member for theNate, were honored to help fund the creation of the sculpture park’s first new installation in a decade.

The fact that Karpowicz is the sculptor means more to the Uzureau family because they have the artist’s pieces in their own home.

A retired engineer and architect of biotechnical and pharmaceutical plants, Paul Uzureau said Karpowicz’s work explores themes familiar to him. “I’ve always enjoyed volumes and kinetic shapes reflected in Terry’s pieces.”

Linda Uzureau said she’s excited to see one of Karpowicz’s interpretations on campus.

“We have always admired Terry Karpowicz’s sculptures and are thrilled about the piece he has created and eager for others to see it installed at theNate. I am especially happy with its placement, as I often ate lunch on the patio when I was working at GSU.”

Set to overlook the GSU’s iconic pond, Stargazing will be Karpowicz’s second piece featured in the Collection.

Art Ark, 1981 (refabricated 2006) greets campus visitors as they enter the main entrance. It’s weathered wood, steel and brass fittings speak to the artist’s practice of wood-working and joinery that draws on the interactions between wind, water, sunlight, and gravity and natural materials.

Another highlight of the fundraising event will be the public debut of an original musical composition by Ernest Dawkins that has been commissioned by the advisory board of theNate to honor Richard Hunt.

Hunt, a native of Chicago’s South Side, created “Light of Truth,” a monument in bronze to Ida B. Wells, the trailblazing journalist. The sculpture was recently installed at in the city’s historic Bronzeville neighborhood, not far from where the Pulitzer prize winner lived.

In his signature style, Hunt fashioned the towering memorial of silver-colored metal structure with three supporting pillars.

Hunt has created over 150 public sculpture commissions in prominent locations in 22 states across the United States.

Two of his cor-ten steel pieces are part of the collection—Large Planar Hybrid, 1973-74 and Outgrown Pyramid II, 1973 are among visitors’ favorites at theNate, voted by USA Today readers in 2021 as the best sculpture park in the U.S.

To learn more about SWD click here or visit govst.edu/NMSP/

Contact:

Zion Banks

zbanks@govst.edu

Governors State University

630.842.6427