The development of an idea in sculpture

Abstract

This thesis is a narration of the development of a Memorial-Reservoir-Sculptural unit as a project on the campus at Northern Montana College at Havre. The project is in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Art at Montana State College at Bozeman, Montana. The memorial is to Max P. Kuhr, civic leader, lawyer, and member of the Northern Montana College executive board, who was killed in an automobile accident near Havre. His family and many friends established a fund to be used to enhance the campus. This fund was used to develop the memorial. The reservoir functions as a storage unit for water pumped from the deep wells on campus for irrigation purposes. Size was dictated by volume requirements for irrigation, while retaining depth not exceeding safety margins for children. The shape of the reservoir-pool developed out of the existing form of the land on which it was placed. The total project evolved as a unit which embodies the theme of the "Watering Hole," through the sculptural development of indigenous forms of the region. A fountain symbolically conveys the growth and use factors of water in this region while functioning as an outlet for the water from the wells. A free standing wall with abutments functions as the base for sculpture while housing the valve and pumping equipment necessary for irrigation. The indigenous animal forms developed in sheet steel surmount the wall and abutments. Included in this thesis are photographs of the area, the wall, the fountain, the pool-reservoir, the animal forms, and models of the project.