Colleges and Universities with the Best Public Art

College Search & Selection
1

<p>This rather amusing kerfuffle at Wellesley about the "Sleepwalker" statue reminded me of how much I loved the public art on Penn's campus when I was a student there. </p>

<p><a href="http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/wellesley-college/1612889-statue-of-man-in-underwear-causes-stir-at-wellesley-college.html"&gt;http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/wellesley-college/1612889-statue-of-man-in-underwear-causes-stir-at-wellesley-college.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>My son says he doesn't care that much about how "pretty" a campus is, but he always notices the outdoor art installations. (He flipped over one of the murals at Haverford.) </p>

<p>Would love to hear what schools you've visited had great public art displays and whether or not such "aesthetic considerations" played any role in your decision to apply to a school, or the converse, were you so turned off by a public display that you wrote the school off?</p>

2

<p>My BIL attended Stanford. They have a fabulous outdoor statue garden with some by Rodin. It did not influence him in attending.</p>

3

<p>Possibly, the University of Oklahoma. The town in which it is located, Norman , OK, also has a great deal of public sculpture, in addition to what is found on the OU campus. </p>

4

<p>Rodins? Wow. Had to look that up: <a href=“Current Exhibitions | Cantor Arts Center”>http://museum.stanford.edu/view/outdoor_sculpture.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I did not know that about Norman, but it does sound like they have a great collection: <a href=“http://www.visitnorman.com/attractions/public-art/”>http://www.visitnorman.com/attractions/public-art/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>I loved two things about the CMU campus - the Walking to the Sky sculpture and the Pausch Bridge. </p>

6

<p>Iowa State has a large collection of public art by Christian Petersen.</p>

<p>The library has a great set of Grant Wood WPA murals.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.museums.iastate.edu/AOCfactsheets.html”>http://www.museums.iastate.edu/AOCfactsheets.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.journeythroughartoncampus.blogspot.com/”>http://www.journeythroughartoncampus.blogspot.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>You said public but it brought to mind our tour of Oberlin last week where we learned about the art rental program. Students can borrow fine art to hang in their dorm. <a href=“Allen Memorial Art Museum”>Allen Memorial Art Museum;

8

<p>Depends where in the University of Oklahoma. I love the egghead statues at UC Davis <a href=“http://www.ucdavis.edu/local_resources/images/eggheads/music-walk-poster.jpg”>http://www.ucdavis.edu/local_resources/images/eggheads/music-walk-poster.jpg&lt;/a&gt;
One of the dorms at UC Santa Cruz also had a mural which seemed to epitomize its reputation as the hippy UC. IMO it captured the school’s unique attributes perfectly (if only I could remember the name of the dorm).</p>

9

<p><a href=“http://www.cranbrookart.edu/Pages/AboutUs.html”>http://www.cranbrookart.edu/Pages/AboutUs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

10

<p>The Baltimore Museum of Art is practically on the Johns Hopkins campus and has a nice sculpture garden (and it’s free)</p>

11

<p>These are great. More, please! :-)</p>

12

<p>Carnegie Mellon had some neat ones, and also the Carnegie museums adjacent.</p>

13

<p>Here’s a link to what’s on campus at Penn these days: <a href=“Public Art | University of Pennsylvania Facilities and Real Estate Services”>http://www.facilities.upenn.edu/maps/art&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Some great stuff!</p>