ART AND THE CAMPUS
RICK RHODES PHOTOGRAPHY
versity to the public,” he says. The original
Eve Carson memorial was a bench in the
shape of a butterfly that was “for sale from
the company that makes them in Durham,”
Koster points out. “But it was donated, and
it was embraced by the students.” (A more
elaborate garden area in Carson’s memory
has been built on the site.)
What, then, to not include? “We could
have a long discussion about this,” Koster
says.
The message seems to be, lighten up
and enjoy.
Atonement time
Whatever the correctness crimes, real
and imagined, of “Student Body” artist
Julia Balk, two campus entities are making
serious efforts at inclusiveness with public
art. The large murals done between 1955
and 1960 that have hung prominently in
the School of Government building are a
festival of white people, and the staff there
has been hearing about the absence of
diversity.
The school has unveiled a new one —
50 feet long and five high — that depicts
significant African-Americans in North
Carolina history. The scene is the famous
lunch counter at the Greensboro Woolworth’s; the figures are dining there, and
the four A&T State students who staged
the sit-in in 1960 stand in the foreground,
larger than the others and dressed as
employees of the lunch counter who are
“serving” Pauli Murray, John Hope
Franklin, Elreta Alexander and others.
Three more murals, highlighting blacks
in arts and literature, American Indians and
integration in the state’s government, are
planned at the School of Government.
DAVID E. BROWN ’ 75 is the Review’s senior
associate editor.
36
September/October 2010
