Do you ride the bus to school? Or are you one of the students that park in the McDonalds plaza to get out of buying a parking pass? Well however you make your trek to class it is hard to miss the sculptures that compliment Brock’s campus so peacefully.
Lutz Teutloff, a long-time native to the Niagara Region has a passion for the arts and a vision of how “an engaged idealist can bring art to people outside a museum”. Teutloff’s caring German heart, for all those that had lost hope, loaned part of his impressive art collection that has donned the campus grounds since 1988. From ‘The Gate’ at the entrance to ‘The Bullet’ in the middle of Isaac Brock circle all the way to ‘The Animals’ in front of Schmon Tower, you cannot escape the message of nature mixing with art and science.
What’s cool about Lutz Teutloff’s collection is that all the pieces are composed in a post-modern era. For all you junkies that are unfamiliar with this term, it means that each piece can mean whatever you take it to be. Through research and minimal guidance I now see the sculpture “The Animals” as “ a pathway built on our knowledge, our experiences and our responsibility. Each stone represents something close to us and all together we can cross the path easily, achieving anything we put our mind too”.
Take the sculpture of the bullet ‘She Wolf’ located in the Isaac Brock circle that the school-bus drives donuts around. I asked my friend and Spanish classmate Arden Witter what she thought of it. Arden described it as “a mutated bumble bee with 6 legs which is good, a little odd but still good. I see a distinct symbolism of war between technology and humans. I see moulded individuals marching to war with bullets on their shoulders. I see the depreciating cost of life in a world fantasized with war.
Obviously we are not all going to share the same views. But these pieces aren’t there for us all to agree upon. These sculptures were placed carefully around the campus as giant conversation pieces to create discussion amongst students to further there imagination,
In writing this, I want students to be more aware of the art as well as symbolism that can jump out at you, when least expected. If you don’t have a great imagination or you find yourself staring at a sculpture with a blank face, I would suggest 1 of 2 things. Either open your mind to the possibilities… or consult a physician for your lack of personality.
If your interested check out all 9 sculptures campus wide. Find out more information at the office of University communications or www.niagaraart.com, click Brock.
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