Dallas Morning News
Originally Posted: September 19, 2015
Found objects engage the art world — and SMU history
Found objects play an increasingly important role in the world of art. As the definition of sculpture has broadened, so too has the cool factor of found objects. They’re even making a difference in the 100th anniversary of Southern Methodist University.
Dallas multimedia artist Gretchen Goetz is creating 10 giant puppets that will make their presence felt at various events honoring the giants of SMU history. When it comes to found objects, Goetz has taken a Cake Pops container and used it to symbolize the base of the Oscar won by SMU alumna Kathy Bates. She used plastic tablecloths to represent the pom-poms of cheerleading pioneer and SMU grad Lawrence Herkimer.
The puppets will make special appearances during SMU’s homecoming festivities beginning Wednesday. The puppets will walk, wave and in one case perform a well-known “cheerleader leap.”
The 10 are: Bates, who won an Oscar and Golden Globe as best actress for Misery in 1990; civil rights activist Adelfa Callejo, the first Hispanic woman to graduate from the Dedman School of Law; Herkimer, who created the National Cheerleaders Association; the Rev. Zan Holmes Jr., a recognized civil rights leader; Lamar Hunt, the founder of the American Football League; Robert S. Hyer, the first president of SMU; professor Harold Jeskey, who taught organic chemistry at SMU from 1945 to 1979; Ruth Morgan, who served from 1986 to 1993 as SMU’s first female provost and who was a two-time winner of SMU’s outstanding professor award; golfer Payne Stewart, who earned 11 PGA tour victories, including three majors, before his death at 42; and, of course, football legend Doak Walker, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1948.
For more information, visit smu.edu/giants, which will go live this weekend. READ MORE