Notice anything different this fall at the Memorial Union? The old cafeteria has been replaced with the Food Court, but there is still something missing. Here’s a hint, it has to do with the “Four Seasons.”

That’s right, the four statues surrounding the Memorial Union fountain are gone. They were shipped to Connecticut early this summer to Linda Merk-Gould, a conservator who is cleaning the sculptures.

Mary Atherly, curator of the Farm House museum, said, “The statues have been taken to Merk-Gould because of extensive damage done by harmful exposure to the weather. Merk-Gould will, by hand, remove all debris and salt on the four statues that has built up over the years. Conveniently, the fountain itself is being worked on. There are a few minor problems going on inside.”

Atherly said, “The statues of the four seasons were created back in the 1930s by an artist in residence [at ISU] named Christian Petersen. Christian was much into Native American folklore, which is where the idea for the statues were derived.”

Peterson’s study of Native American folklore led him to write a poem about the planting and harvesting seasons. Atherly said, “In the spring the planting is begun, as in the summer the growth has started, for in the fall the harvest is taken and so on. Each of the four statues represents one of these ideas.”

Atherly said the sculptures were unveiled in front of the Memorial Union in 1941 proclaiming the start of Veishea week.

The statues and fountain are expected to be back in place and working by the beginning of next summer.