Art, at a student's price

by Mary Oakley
Vanguard Staff Writer

November 5, 2007 —

The Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum has something for everyone, including The Donald.

But you don't have to be a millionaire to appreciate the on-campus art museum, which hosts traveling exhibitions of nationally-recognized work and a permanent gallery of Fredericks' sculptures.

The current exhibition in the museum is David Hostetler's Wood and bronze Sculptures. Hofstetler, a nationally-appreciated sculptor, focuses primarily on sculpture of the female form. One of his more famous comissions includes an order from none other than Trump himself.

"Donald Trump commissioned him to design and fabricate a huge huge piece for the Trump Tower in New York," museum director Marilyn Wheaton said. "It's actually outside."

Temporary exhibitions, like Hostetler's, are chosen by the museum. "We make those selections," Wheaton said. "I consider everything. There has to be some correlation to Marshall Fredericks or to sculpture."

In addition to rotating exhibitions like Hofstetler's, the museum is host to the permanent gallery of the artist whose namesake it bears.

"The Marshall Fredericks gallery is a permanent installation," Wheaton said. "The artist himself worked with the designers and installed those works. And in the papers giving all that material to the University in 1988, there is a clause that says that gallery can never be changed."

The gallery mainly contains models of his work, and each piece was commissioned. The more well-known models include "Spirit of Detroit," which is located in downtown Detroit; "Christ on the Cross," located in Indian River, Mich. and "Leaping Gazelle," which is part of the Barber Fountain located on Belle Isle in Detroit.

Besides the permanent gallery and the rotating exhibitions that the museum hosts, a sculpture studio exists for aspiring artists to practice their craft.

"The sculpture studio was created about five years ago, several years after the artist died," Wheaton said.

The studio's design was based off of pictures of Frederick's Royal Oak studio. Pieces, tools, and other objects in the studio are from Frederick's actual studio.

"It's a great educational tool," Wheaton said. "You can learn so much about how the artist worked in his studio, and how you get from a pencil drawing on a piece to paper to one of these huge, monolithic sculptures."

Other aspects of the museum include the archives and gift shop. The archives contain the personal and professional papers of Fredericks.

"The archives include project files, personal correspondence, business correspondence, photographs," Wheaton said. "He did a lot of life drawings, 135. There are videos, all of his awards."

Currently, the archives are closed to the public and are kept in a vault. There are some students who work in the archives, organizing and fililng Fredericks' work.

"Those who work in the archives are just students who have an interest in that field and we pay them just from museum funds," Wheaton said.

There are other students who work in the museum, giving tours and working in the gift shop. The gift shop is located at the entrance to the museum.

"We have a fabulous gift shop that I think students should know about," Wheaton said. "We have jewelry, we have beautiful pottery and tiles, we have museum sweatshirts and t-shirts, and we have beautiful 2008 calendars."

The Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum is open Monday through Saturday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed on Sundays and on national and university holidays.

Admission to the museum is free. Adult tours are $3 per person, $2 per senior and K-12 tours are free.

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