This summer University Museums has started a new exhibition dedicated to a handful of Christian Petersen’s thousands of works, along with some more contemporary art from other artists.

Petersen was the nation’s first permanent campus artist-in-residence, according to the Iowa State University Museum’s website. Pertersen was a sculptor and professor during his time at Iowa State from 1934 through 1955. Petersen created twelve primary works, now located throughout Iowa State’s campus.

The exhibition is located on the ground floor gallery of Morrill Hall. The display will run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday until Aug. 4.

Lynette Pohlman, director and chief curator of University Museums, said Christian Petersen had a significant impact on faculty and students during his time at Iowa State.

“The goals of this exhibition are to give a small overview about who he was, what made him unique about interpreting our campus, and how do his works represent Iowa State University,” Pohlman said.

For this exhibition, sections of his smaller works are displayed, but the exhibition also includes other artists’ work to give the audience diversity in expression and thought. Most people look at a work of art and decide whether they like it or dislike it in the first three seconds of staring at it, Pohlman said.

“A lot of people on campus are familiar with the public art that’s he’s done because you walk by it every day and you see it a little bit more often,” said Nancy Girard, educator of visual literacy and learning for University Museums. “I think it’s interesting for people to see more of his work and some of the things he was doing in the studio.”

Girard said it will be nice to show people a bigger collection of Petersen’s lesser-known work.

“Petersen helped his students learn to look and appreciate what they made and what others made,” Pohlman said. “Students looked at his class as a safe place to become acquainted with one another and engage in student to student interaction.” A lot of art goes unnoticed not only on our beautiful campus but all around the world she said.

Girard said art has the ability to teach people about history, philosophy and who an individual is as a person.

“People need to get engaged. People learn from art when they engage with it,” Pohlman said. “If you want to get to know someone, you have to spend time with it. You have to use your mind and your heart to expand your horizons.”

When the museum first opened in 2007, Elizabeth Anderson, one of Petersen’s students, came in. Anderson told Pohlman that she was Petersen’s last student at Iowa State. She was enrolled in his class the summer before he retired and was the only student in the class.

Anderson asked Pohlman what else she wanted to do with the art on campus and Pohlman told her that she would love to have a sculpture garden. It is now the Anderson Sculpture Garden located on Central Campus.

Anderson told Pohlman that whenever she and her husband arrived in a new place, the first thing they would do was check out the art museum. “It’s important to learn about the art in that place, wherever you are in the world, and learn about that culture. That’s what I learned from Petersen’s class,” Pohlman said Anderson told her.

Petersen has had lasting impressions on the people who came into contact with him. Throughout his legacy at Iowa State, he has become an inspiration to not only artists but to the Ames community as a whole.

“He taught students how to connect with the world,” Pohlman said. “The whole reason we have art here, to create beauty, intellectual thought and expression to inspire students to be world class citizens.”

For more details you can visit http://www.museums.iastate.edu/homepage.html