Sculpture Collection

Pair of WWU sculptures to swap places this summer

Large metal abstract sculpture resembling a chair sits on a grassy hill
sculptures

'Bigger Big Chair' and 'The Man Who Used to Hunt Cougars for Bounty' to flip locations in September after initial site work is completed

Guided Tours & Group Visits

Guided tours to the exhibitions and the outdoor sculpture collection are offered to schools and organized groups. Please email the Museum Educator, or call (360) 650-3939 to make an appointment.

 

Request a Group Tour

Self-guided Tour

The outdoor sculpture collection is open to the public to enjoy any time. Indoor sculptures are publicly viewable when campus buildings are open. View or download the campus maps below to help find all the sculptures on campus. As you view each sculpture, you can view it on this website, or download the Sculpture Collection Brochure to learn more. Stop by the Western Gallery when it's open to get more resources and information from an expert.

Sculpture Collection Brochure PDF

Sculpture Collection brochure cover

Download or print and take this file with you for off-line reading as you tour the sculptures.

Outdoor Sculpture Collection History PDF

a book opened at the start of a chapter

A 38 page booklet by former Gallery Director Sarah Clark-Langager about the history of Western's sculpture collection.

Sculpture in Place: A Campus as Site

Cover of book titled "Sculpture - Place"

by Sarah A. Clark-Langager

A 96 page book about the sculpture collection: available at the campus bookstore and online.

Looking up: the skyviewing sculptures of Isamu Noguchi

Book cover showing the moon through part of Noguchi's skyviewing sculpture

by Hafthor Yngvason, Matthew Kirsch, Kate Wiener

This book examines Noguchi’s career, and explores his work on the themes of space, charting our place in the universe, and ‘skyviewing’.

Available at the campus bookstore and online.

Nancy Holt Stone Enclosure: Rock Rings

Book cover showing a view through multiple circular windows in Holt's Rock Rings sculpture

by Kristina Lee Podesva

This book takes a long look at the Stone Enclosure: Rock Rings (1977-78) sculpture by Nancy Holt.

Available a the campus bookstore and online.

Student works

Multimedia Tour

the top of the For Handel sculpture next to the Music Library, with the sky behind

​Students in the Visual Dialog Course (ART 109) create a multimedia tour of the sculpture collection based on their own research.

Aural Portraits

sound wave

Students in Time-Based Art (ART 385) create original works of sound art that provide aural portraits of the sculptures. The best way to enjoy the portraits is to put the application Soundcloud on your phone and listen to the tracks in proximity to the sculptures themselves.

Sculpture Poems

Abstract shapes in different shades of blue, overlapping each other

Students in Creative Writing by Design (English 195) tour the collection and respond to the sculptures in poems and graphic presentations.

Articles by Student Journalists (PDF)

close up of hands typing on a laptop keyboard

Students in Newswriting (Journalism 207) tour the collection and write articles on the sculptures.