'Engineered Art' brings dramatic sculptures to Georgia Tech

Self-guided tour, daylight hours, daily, free, Georgia Tech Student Center, 350 Ferst Dr., Atlanta

On www.arts.gatech.edu, click on Performance/Exhibit link for downloadable walking tour map and more information.

Now that the smog alerts are all but gone and the air doesn’t shimmer with 95 degree heat, as you walk across the campus of Georgia Tech on a blue-sky day the temptation is to pause and gawk at the surrounding Midtown skyline above the campus’ perimeter.

But lower your gaze. Over there, near the student center parking ramp, nestled in a cradle of rosemary, is Chakaia Booker’s 8-foot sculpture, “Renegade.” Get closer. The sensation of scent, real and imagined, is overwhelming. There is the perfume of the herb itself. Then there are the fronds covering Booker’s arching panels, bits of old radial tires that suggest the pungent smell of burning rubber.

Across the campus, Isaac Duncan III’s stainless steel piece “Tux” suggests a postmodern sundial being offered up on a slender post to the late-morning sun. A short walk from there is the helix-inspired work, “Squirt,” by John Clement. Imagine a 7½-foot high and wide orange Slinky, sliced, diced and reconfigured into a whirl on a patch of green lawn.

This clear, crisp, late season seems the perfect time to view “Engineered Art,” an international sculpture exhibition now on view at Georgia Tech. Fifteen monumental works fabricated by sculptors from Chattanooga to Germany dot the heart of the 400-acre campus. And while the show, which runs until next summer, was brought in specifically to bolster the institute’s growing artistic mission, it also brings an infusion of public art to the core of a city that arguably doesn’t have nearly enough of it. And for Atlantans who may grow tired of holiday light displays before the season ends, “Engineered Art” is a show (albeit best viewed during the day) that is something of a respite.

Yards away from Booker’s “Renegade” is John Henry’s “La Tour.” At 50 feet, it’s easily the tallest sculpture in the show. Planes and blades of steel climb into the air like cantilevered strokes of paint and shorthand. Henry, a contemporary of master sculptor Mark di Suvero, is the show’s curator. Based in Chattanooga, Henry organized the original version of the show about eight years ago on a commission by the Swiss contemporary arts center Art St. Urban.

Then called “American Sculptors in the Shadow of the Alps,” the exhibit was a showcase of sculptors Henry has worked with through the years, including his time as chairman of the International Sculpture Center and as a leader of a 25-acre sculpture garden project in Chattanooga.

From Switzerland the show traveled to Sarasota, Fla., and then Florida International University in Miami. That’s where a Georgia Tech alumnus saw the show and encouraged the institute to bring it to Atlanta. Because previous host institutions purchased some of the works during the tour, the show evolved to include works by German sculptors including Klaus Albert and Klaus Duschat. The work began arriving on campus in late spring, and the last pieces went in late summer.

“When we saw it we knew it was a given that we were going to bring it to Georgia Tech,” said Aaron Bobick, a professor of interactive computing and chairman of the Council of the Arts at Georgia Tech. “When you put sculpture of this scale on a campus, your goal is to get people to notice artistic expression in general, not necessarily incorporate it into a lesson plan, though I have seen professors holding classes outside beside some of the sculptures.”

Even so, Henry said he was impressed by the questions students asked about the work as it was being installed.

“You always get questions when you’re installing a show, but these students were asking very appropriate questions like if the modeling for a piece was done on computer,” Henry said. “Not once did somebody ask us, ‘What does it mean?’ ”

But unlike other powerhouse schools such as UCLA and MIT, which have world-class, permanent, sculpture gardens or public art collections including work by di Suvero, Henry Moore, Alexander Calder, Picasso and Isamu Noguchi among others, Georgia Tech is still in the early stages of building a significant artistic collection and legacy. The school has some interesting works already including sculptures by popular glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. Yet, permanent collections of importance are built through generous donors and gifts, combinations that even established artistic institutions in Atlanta struggle to get and maintain. For now the school will rely on traveling public art exhibitions that it hopes will have appeal to viewers beyond the campus.

“We want this to be a continuing endeavor, not just a one off,” said Howard Wertheimer, director of capital planning and space management. “We’re already in conversation with John (Henry) about the next exhibit. And, over time, I’d like for us to acquire different pieces of sculpture.”

It’s unclear which pieces, if any, will be acquired from this show. In the meantime, if you’re willing to take a walk or drive down Ferst Drive, you’ll get a glimpse of the school’s ambition. At the entrance of the campus recreation center is New York artist Doug Schatz’s 13-foot piece, “Crown.” Steel shards painted a dynamic red form a circle of varying heights. Each shard points toward the sky.

“Like an iceberg, you only see 30 percent of it or if you see a friend you might read their body language, but you can only guess what’s going on inside,” said Schatz. “What lies beneath is not quite what you see. You have to imagine what’s beneath.”